Puppet Master Evolution
by Dark Shroud
Summary: Rogue discovers a boy who holds the great secret of the old Puppet Master Andre Toulon. Now she finds herself a pawn between a satanic cult and a demon from hell. CHAPTER 16 UP!
1. Default Chapter

Author's notes: This story is a mix of the horror movie series Puppet Master and the cartoon X-Men Evolution. I had been working on another story but no one was reading it. I am taking my first story off of Fan Fiction to try and improve it a little. So technically this is now my first fan fiction story, so please go easy on me when reviewing. This story takes place after Dark Harrison, but has nothing to do with Apocalypse.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights or the characters from X-Men Evolution or Puppet Master. I do not wish to be sued.

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The Puppet Master Arrives 

The night was dark. There was almost no sound except the sound of the wind blowing. Rogue walked through the halls of the institute. She was wearing her black dress with the slits in the skirt and the scarf around her shoulders. The young Goth had no idea why she was wearing these cloths or why she was walking through the halls. 

She soon heard the sound of an old man say, "I am here, I am with you." The voice sounded breathless and it flowed through the institute. Rogue wondered why none of the other X-Men heard the voice.

She called back, "who's there? Who ever you are Ah'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."

"Come to me," the voice said.

She followed the sound of the voice. Walking as fast as she could she finally entered a large room that she had never seen in the institute before. It was large and circular. 

She walked to the middle of the room and stood motionless. A boy of about her age came out of the shadows and stood in front of her. He wore a black hat and trench coat. In his right hand he held a cane with a silver rattle snakes head on the top. His face had a curious look upon it as did Rogue's.

Rogue took a slow step back and asked, "who are you?"

The boy walked closer to her using the cane to support him. It was like he had a problem with his right leg. He said, "I was about to ask you the same thing."

"What are you doing here," Rogue asked demandingly.

The boy simply said, "I was told to come here."

The sound of footsteps was soon heard. Rogue turned around and saw an old man walking towards them. He wore the same cloths as the boy. His face was covered in shadow.

Rogue soon became hypnotized by the older man. She stood where she was and didn't seem afraid. The older man held out his hand and Rogue took it. The two began to dance around the room as if slow music had been playing. 

The younger boy began to circle around them with a look of pure bewilderment. Rogue looked at the boy as he walked around the old man and her. She was as confused as he was. Why was she dancing with this man? She didn't know him. It was like she had no control of her actions.

She began to see seven figures enter the room. They were each no bigger than eighteen inches tall. She couldn't quiet make out what they all looked like, but she could tell the look of three of them. On had a knife for his left hand and a hook for the other. The second seemed muscular, but had a very small head. And the third had a large point on the top of his head that looked like a big drill. 

The old man backed away from her and she knelt on the ground. The boy had stopped circling them and was now watching her. The three figures she could make out came up to her. The muscular one grabbed hold of her head gently, the one with the knife and the hook began to stroke her wrist gently with the curve of his small hook. The one with the drill began to drill the side of her head directly on the temple. The drill did not seem to dig in to her head, it just gently rubbed her temple. It felt very relaxing for some strange reason. A little blood began to dribble down her head, but that was all the harm that came to her.

Rogue looked up at the boy in black. He looked at her in shock. She then said to him as if she had no control over her words, "greetings Puppet Master." She then began to laugh. She didn't know why. She just had no control over what ever she did.

The Goth soon heard Kitty's voice say, "Rogue wake up."

She shook slightly and then woke up in her own bed. It was day light out and there were no little figures around her. It was all a dream.

Kitty said, "are you ok Rogue. I've been trying to wake you up for the past ten minutes. You were like, really freaking me out."

"Why? What did Ah do," the pail girl asked very confused as to what just happened.

Kitty said, "you were talking in your sleep. You said 'greeting Puppet Master' and then you began to laugh really evil like. What were you dreaming?"

Rogue shook her head and said, "I don't want to talk about it."

She left the room and headed into the bathroom. She splashed her face with cold water and looked in the mirror. She said quietly to herself, "Puppet Master?"

The words seemed strangely familiar to her. She had had that dream two times before, but that wasn't the reason. She felt as if she heard those words before.

*************************************************************

Later that night in Bayeville a bus stopped on a lone street. The doors opened and a strange boy came out. In his left hand he dragged a big trunk and in the right hand he held a cane with a silver rattlesnake head on the top. He wore a black hat and trench coat and he walked down the street supporting himself with his cane.

He slowly walked up to a near by house and knocked on the door. It was answered by a middle-aged man. The man said, "what do you want boy?"

The boy dressed in black said, "I was wondering if I could have a room for the night. I've been traveling for quite some time and I haven't slept someplace warm for weeks.

The man said, "no now get off my property." Then he slammed the door. 

The boy looked sadly to the ground. He had become a drifter at a very young age, and had been homeless for quite some time. He dragged his trunk all the way to a small ally and sat against the wall. His trench coat provided him little warmth, but he didn't mind the cold.

He took a small peace of folded paper out of his trench coat pocket and looked at it. He unfolded it and read the one word that was written on it, "Rogue." He said softly to himself, "I'll find you. One of these days." Then he folded the peace of paper and put it back in his pocket. 

Soon the sound of footsteps could be heard. The boy slipped deeper into the shadows of the ally and dragged his trunk with him. 

Outside of the ally a strange man dressed in a black hooded rob walked up to the door that the boy had just knocked on. 

He knocked on the door as well and waited patiently. The same middle-aged man opened the door. He looked out at the dark figure. "What the hell do you want," he asked. "I already had some snot nosed kid on my porch and I don't want any more visitors."

The cloaked man said, "I am looking for the grandson of the famed Puppet Master Andre Toulon. We believe him to be in this town. He wears a trench coat, and carries a cane."

The man said, "yeah, he was just on my porch, I told him to get lost."

The cloaked figure said, "he has been here? And you forced him to leave? You will find that to be a sad mistake."

The cloaked figure quickly took out a large knife. Back in the ally the boy could hear the man scream. It was a loud cry of fear. He heard the sound of struggling and then heard the man scream, "NOOO-" and then there was the sound of a knife piercing flesh and then silence. 

The boy breathed as quietly as he could now. He watched the entrance of the ally. The cloaked figure soon stepped into his view. He now held a bloody knife in his hand. The figure walked away and the boy sighed in relief.

He breathed in and out now very afraid. He then heard a voice say, "calm yourself. I am with you Puppet Master."

The boy took a few more deep breaths and said, "I know grandfather Toulon."

*************************************************************

The next morning Rogue woke up screaming. Kitty woke up instantly and in not time Scott and Jean were in the room.

They ran over to the young Goths bed. "What is it," said Scott, "what's wrong?"

Rogue was breathing in quick gasps. Something had really scared her. She said, "Ah Ah saw these horrible things. I saw monsters or demons of some kind. They were in this huge cave beneath the earth or something like that. They were talking about some guy named Andre Toulon."

Jean and Scott sighed sympathetically. Jean said, "Rogue, it was just a nightmare. You've been having them ever since your powers went crazy, and ever since Mezmoro took over your mind."

Rogue yelled angrily, "it wasn't a dream! It was really happening, or it already happened!"

"Rogue," said Scott, "we understand your going through some hard times. Having nightmares about it is perfectly natural."

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE," Rogue screamed. "IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING TO ME!"

She paused and took a few deep breaths. She then said, "it has something to do with the Puppet Master." They all looked at her with curiosity. She said, "Ah want the Professor to look into mah head. He'll see that it wasn't a nightmare."

*************************************************************

Rogue waited in the Professor's office. Jean, Scott, and Kitty were telling him what the pale girl had told them. She was afraid that Xavier would think she was crazy.

After a few long minutes the Professor wheeled himself into the room followed by Ororo and Hank. "How are you feeling Rogue," he asked as he stopped his wheel chair next to her.

Rogue said, "Ah've been better What did Scott and Jean tell you?"

Charles said, "they said that you believe you saw something in your sleep that you don't believe to be a dream."

Rogue nodded, "and Ah want you to prove to them that it's not a dream."

Charles nodded and said, "well then lets just have a look."

He had Rogue close her eyes and then he began searching through her thoughts. He found himself in blackness. Soon he saw the figure of Rogue walk up to him. Rogue's psyche was prepared to show the professor exactly what she saw. 

She asked, "are you sure you want to see this?"

"Yes," said Charles. "I'm here to help you Rogue, no matter what the problem is."

Rogue nodded and the blackness around them faded away. They soon became surrounded by rock walls. A large demonic statue stood high above them. The cave was light with red candles. They saw many skulls around the walls and many, many bones.

In the middle of the cave was a strange cauldron that was full of a clear red liquid that was neither blood nor water. 

Above them on the ceiling of the cave was a large four-sided upside down crystal pyramid. About four yards from the cauldron stood a red throne that had sharp spikes sticking out from the side. 

In the throne sat a horrible demon. He was seven feet tall and was very skinny. So skinny that the outlines of his bones could be seen. His rib cage was wider than that of a normal person. He had five clawed fingers. His head was bald and shaped like a human skull. He had orange eyes and no pupils in them. His mouth seemed connected. His upper and lower lips were webbed together with little webs of skin.

Next to him stood a man with a face that looked half rotted. The demon said to the man in a demonic voice, "fetch the others. I have news."

"Yes lord Suetek," said the strange man.

After a short while two more men that looked the same as the first came to lord Suetek. Rogue and the Professor listened as Suetek spoke. "I have learned that those in the upworld that hold our secrets believe me to be dead now. The secret has been passed on, the secret Andre Toulon stole from us those many years ago."

Rogue swallowed hard. She knew that she wasn't really there right now, but she was still very afraid. She looked over to the Professor and saw the worried look on his face.

Suetek continued. "The gift has been passed down to a new Puppet Master, Toulon's grand child. We must send our children to retrieve our secret, and kill the last of the Toulon family." He stood from his throne and said, "the magic is ours, and ours alone it must remain. Young Toulon, must pay for the deeds committed by his grandfather. He and every one around him must die. They must die."

Suetek paused and then turned around towards Rogue and the Professor. "You," he said, "what are you doing here? Who are you?" He turned to his men and said, "get her."

All of a sudden the whole vision disappeared and both the Professor and Rogue were back in the institute. Hank and Ororo sat near by with a looked of worry on their faces. Rogue took a few deep breaths and then said to the Professor, "and that's when Ah woke up screaming."

Charles was breathing deeply as well. He said, "thank you for your time Rogue. I will inform the others about this later. You may leave now."

Rogue stood up and began walking slowly towards the door. She stopped and turned to the Professor. "It wasn't a dream," she said and then left.

After she left Ororo asked, "so what do you think Charles?"

Xavier took a few more deep breaths and said, "it wasn't a dream, or at least she believes it wasn't."

"What do you think we should do," asked Hank.

"We will be patient," said Charles. "I believe that this vision of Rogue's may be a break through. She has never come to me about her troubles before, and now that she has she might be willing to open up to us more."

He aloud Ororo and Hank to leave. They were all totally unaware of the danger they would soon be in.


	2. 2 Of Puppets and Cults

Author's Notes: I should have warned earlier that this story will get violent at times and there will be some occasional swearing. I just wanted to clear that up.

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Of Puppets and Cults 

That day was not at all easy for Rogue. The other X-Men had heard about the vision she had the other night and they kept asking her questions about it. The last thing she wanted was to have to tell every body about Suetek and the Puppet Master. She knew every body would think she was crazy.

Whenever she had a chance to be alone she mostly thought about the other dream she had. She kept wondering who the boy was and what those little things were. 

When school got out she decided to walk back to the institute. She needed to clear her head with out worrying about somebody asking her questions every two seconds. 

She walked down the road and saw Scott's car pass her by. She was thankful that no one noticed her on the road, that way she wouldn't have to explain why she didn't want a ride. 

As she walked she repeated the words that have been picking at her mind all day. "Puppet Master," she said wonderingly. She wanted so much to know why those words seemed so familiar to her. 

She heard an accented voice behind her say, "who are you talking about?"

Rogue turned around only to see Kurt standing behind her. She said angrily, "what are ya doing creeping up on me like that?"

Kurt said, "I'm sorry Rogue. I saw you walking away from school all by yourself and I figured I'd give you some company."

"Company is the last thing Ah want right now," the Goth said rather coldly.

Kurt stopped and looked sadly to the ground. He began to slowly walk away. Rogue began to feel a little guilty. It hasn't been long since she discovered she was Kurt's adopted sister. And she wasn't acting very sisterly to him at all.

She said, "Kurt wait." Kurt stopped and turned around. "It's ok Kurt, you can walk with me."

Kurt smiled and hurried to his sister's side. They began to walk down the street. Kurt turned to Rogue and said, "Rogue, you've been acting very strange lately. What's going on with you? Does it have anything to do with what has happened, like Apocalypse?"

"No," said Rogue. She looked into Kurt's eyes and knew he wouldn't drop this until she told him the rest. "Ah've just been having these really weird dreams about somebody called the Puppet Master, and somebody called Andrea Toulon. The dreams always start out with me by mahself, but Ah'm always joined by two weird guys and seven little things."

She didn't tell him about her vision of Suetek. Kurt looked both interested and confused. "Wow," he said, "they sound pretty weird. Do you have any idea what they mean?"

"Ah have no idea," said Rogue. "But the part Ah don't understand is, Ah feel like Ah've seen those little things before. And this Puppet Master guy sounds so familiar to me."

Kurt was now very interested. "Well," he said, "the answer can't stay hidden from you for long, maybe you'll find out why you think you've seen those little things before."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," said Rogue. She felt a little better talking to Kurt about this. It had been bugging her all day and she was happy now that she told someone about it.

They walked down the road not knowing they were being watched by demon eyes. Deep below the surface of the earth the demon lord Suetek was watching them through his cauldron. His followers stood around waiting for his words.

"So," he said, "she is the one." He turned to his followers. "We must prevent the grandson of Andrea Toulon from finding this girl, so he may never reveal the secrets to her All those around her in the upworld will suffer for Toulon's treachery. Send our children to where she lives and kill whom every is around her."

His followers nodded and prepared for their new mission.

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The boy dressed in black walked as best he could down the street. He dragged his trunk along side him. It was day light now. He felt safer during the day; his enemies wouldn't be able to find him. However he knew that it would be dark soon. He had to find a place where he could spend the night without worrying about his enemies.

He stopped in front of an old beat up building. He read the sign that stood near it, "The Brother Hood Foster Home." He shrugged and made his way to the door.

The boy then knocked on the door with the snake head of his cane. After a few seconds the door was opened by the speedy mutant Pietro. He looked at the boy dressed in black and said, "who the hell are you?"

"I am a drifter," said the boy. "I've been wondering for a really long time and I need a place to spend the night. I was hoping you could spare a bed or couch."

Pietro showed no kindness. "No way," he said, and began to close the door. 

The boy dressed in black quickly shoved his cane into the closing door. "Wait," he said.

Pietro opened the door again with a look of anger. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden ring. He said, "this was my grandfather's engagement ring that he gave to my grandmother Elsa. It is pure gold with a real diamond. If I give it to you then you can do what ever you want with it. You can sell it, melt it down, give it to a girl, I don't care. Just let me stay here one night."

The boy handed Pietro the ring. "Listen kid," said Peitro, "this house is for mutants only. No body in here takes kindly to humans."

The boy nodded and said, "good, then I'm not the only mutant in this town."

Pietro paused. He said, "if you're a mutant then what's your power?"

The boy shook his head and said, "you really don't want to know. All I can tell you is that it has a great deal to do with peoples minds."

Pietro paused again. He looked down at the ring that the boy just placed in his hand. "You'll really give me this ring if I let you stay," he asked.

"Yes," was all the boy said. Pietro then aloud him in. The boy dragged his trunk in with him. His cane wobbled as he pulled and he nearly lost his balance. Peitro helped him with the trunk.

When he was finally in the house the speed demon said, "so do you have a name at all?"

The boy paused and made sure his trunk was all right. He then said, "my name is Andre Toulon. I was named after my grandfather, so I guess that makes me Andre Toulon the second."

"Ok," Pietro said. He led Andrea into the living room of the house. The other Brother Hood members were talking about their lousy days. Peitro introduced the stranger, "guys this here is Andrea Toulon, he's going to be staying here tonight."

Wanda stood up and said, "what do you mean he's staying here. What reason does this human have for being here anyway."

"I don't know his reasons, but he ain't a human, he's a mutant. And besides he gave us this in exchange for him staying." He held up the ring and said, "with this we'll finally be able to pay those bills we've blown off for so long."

Wanda took the ring and looked at it. It looked real enough. She said, "all right he can stay. It will be nice to have running water for a change."

Andrea became relieved. He was confident that his enemies would not find him here. He said, "you won't even notice I'm here."

Then he began to walk around the house. He saw an empty shelf in the corner and asked, "are you guy's using this shelf at all?"

Lance shook his head. Andre nodded and headed over to his trunk. He opened it up and took out an eighteen-inch tall figurine. He said to the figure, "out you come Blade."

The Brother Hood members looked over and saw the small figure in his hands. It was like a small stalker. It's cloths were somewhat similar to that of Andre's. He wore a black trench coat and hat. 

His head was shaped like a human skull and was pure ivory white. His eyes were hollow and painted black. For pupils he had little points that would stick out of his sockets every now and then. He had a little pointed nose that pointed upwards a little. He had long white hair that hung down from the back and sides of his hat and stopped at his shoulders. He had no ears and his mouth was able to open and close.

What caught the Brother Hoods' attention the most was the fact that his left hand was replaced with a small knife and his right hand was replaced with a small hook.

Todd found the little figure very interesting. When Andrea set Blade down Todd quickly walked over and picked it up. He said, "man look at this cool little thing."

Andre immediately hit Todd's wrist with his cane. He said, "never touch these puppets. They belonged to my grandfather Andre Toulon the first. I don't allow any one to touch them."

Todd backed away holding his wrist. Fred asked, "what kind of puppet is um Blade?"

"He's a stringless marionette," Andre said as he placed the puppet on the shelf so it stood perfectly upright.

He then took out his other six puppets. (Author's notes: this is going to take a little while, please be patient.) He said their names as he took them out of the trunk. First their was Pinhead. He was a buff puppet. His arms were very long and muscular. His body was very big and buff, but his head was very small. It was balled and was pointed at the top. The face was small and a little wrinkly. One of his eyes was closed in a wink. He wore an orange reddish sweater, gray pants, and black gloves that had nod fingers. His hands were very big and looked like they could easily wrap around his little head.

Then there was Tunneler. He was dressed in an old German soldier uniform used in world war two. His face looked kind of normal except for his squinted black eyes. On top of his head he had a large drill instead of hair. The Brother Hood members instantly new why he was called Tunneler.

Next Six-shooter was revealed. He was a cowboy. He wore a white shirt, brown vest, black paints, red handkerchief around his neck, and a black cowboy hat. He had six arms. Each of his hands was covered with a black leather glove. He had three belts each holding two small hand guns. On his face a permanent grin was formed under his small mustache. His eyebrows were narrowed giving him a sinister look.

Then came Jester. He was a simple puppet. He looked like a simple jester with a red and purple jester outfit. His face was divided into three separate layers for some reason the Brother Hood couldn't determine. 

Next there was Torch. He was a very creative puppet. His head was a strange helmet that had a spike sticking out of the very top. He had two rectangular eyes on his helmet which light up bright red every now and again. Sticking out of the bottom of the helmet were bullet teeth that formed his upper jaw. His lower jaw came out from the sides of his helmet head. It had little bumps on it that were made for lower teeth. He wore a tan jacket made of a sort of fabric and gray pants. He had black boots that went up to his knees. He had a for fingered gloved hand on his left arm and on his right he had some sort of small tubular cylinder for a hand.

And finally their was Decapitron. He wore a leather jacket like that of a world war one fighter pilot. He had two four fingered gloved hands. He had on tan pants and black boots that went up to his knees. His head was shaped like a normal mans, but it was metal and had no face. Why he was called Decapitron was unknown to the Brother Hood.

"Man," said Fred. "That's a big collection."

Andre nodded. Wanda looked in amazement at the puppets. They were so detailed. They were each placed on the empty shelf. As Wanda walked away from them she passed the puppet called Blade. The puppet's head suddenly moved without anything controlling it. It was watching Wanda leave. Luckily she didn't notice it's sudden movement.

Andrea shook his head at Blade and the puppet stood still once again.

*************************************************************

In a small clearing in the woods a small group of cloaked figures chanted around a fire. They spoke in a strange cultic tongue. They stopped when anther cloaked man entered the clearing. 

One figure spoke to him. "What have you learned Vonce?"

Vonce spoke with no emotion in his voice. "The Puppet Master is here, in this very town. The spirit of his grandfather has guided him well."

"Do you know of his whereabouts," asked another cloaked figure.

"No," said Vonce. "The last person who saw him I have killed. And there is more trouble coming our way. Suetek has found the other child."

"What?," said the first cloaked man. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," said Vonce. "He will kill both the Puppet Master and the child, and take the magic which is rightfully ours."

All the men surrounded their leader. He said, "we must shed their blood before Suetek takes what rightfully belongs to us."

*************************************************************

Back at the institute Rogue was in her room. She was busy reading and trying to get her troubles out of her head. Soon a knock came at her door.

"Whose there," she asked not wanting to talk to anybody right no.

She heard a voice say, "it's Kurt."

With those words the blue mutant *bamfed* into the room holding papers in his hand. "What is it," Rogue asked. She was very tired and wasn't sure if she would make it through her danger room session that night.

"I got some information on that Andrea Toulon guy you were talking about," Kurt said rather excited.

"What," was Rogue's only comment. She was surprised that Kurt actually got information about this guy.'

Kurt continued. "Apparently this guy was a famous puppet master back in Germany during Wold War two. It says here that the Nazis were after him after they killed his wife Elsa one night. He moved here to America, but apparently the Nazis followed him here and he shot himself."

"Oh mah God," Rogue said. She looked at the papers and asked, "well, what did the Nazis want him for?"

"It doesn't say," was Kurt's answer.

Rogue was confounded. This guy died way before she was born. So why was she dreaming about him. He couldn't be the Puppet Master that she was dreaming about. "Well," she said, "what ever the Nazis wanted him for he made sure that they couldn't force him to reveal what ever he was hiding."

There was another knock on the door. They both heard Kitty's voice say, "come on guys, we have a danger room lesson now." 

They left the room quickly. Rogue took the information with her. She wanted to show the Professor what she now knew about Andrea Toulon.

*************************************************************

Dinner was prepared at the Brother Hood house. As usual they ordered out. Andre the second stood in a corner as they all ate. He wasn't hungry.

Wanda watched in discust as Fred scarffed down a piece of pizza. She looked over and saw Andre starring at a piece of paper. She said to him, "aren't you gonna eat something?"

"No," said Andre still looking at the paper. He read the word over and over again, "Rogue". 

He looked up at the others eating their food. He then said, "maybe you guys could help me."

Lance said, "I think we're already helping you by letting you stay here."

The boy dressed in black ignored his statement. "I've been looking for someone for a long time. I was told that I'd be able to find her in this town."

"Who are you looking for," asked Wanda. She didn't like this boy at all, but she found herself interested in him.

Andre said, "the person I'm looking for is known only as Rogue."

All the other mutants paused. Pietro said after a few seconds of silence, "yeah we know where she is."

Andre gave a look of hope, "you mean she's in this town? Where is she? It's important that I find her as soon as possible."

Lance was the one to answer him. "She lives at the Xavier Institute with all the other X-Geeks." Andre looked at him confused. Lance asked, "why do you need to find her?"

"I just do," said Andre. "Where is this Xavier Institute? What does Rogue look like?"

"Oh no," said Lance. "I don't answer your question until you answer mine."

The young boy dressed in black said, "I can't tell you," and he left it at that. He said no more the rest of the night.

*************************************************************

After what seemed like an eternity the Brother Hood members finally went to sleep. Andre was left alone down stairs. Now that he was alone he felt much safer. He didn't really trust this group of mutants when his family's great secret was right there in the house with him.

When he was positive he was alone he turned to all his puppets on the shelf. He said to them, "it's alright, they're gone now."

A few seconds later the puppet called Pinhead began to move his long muscular arms with out anything controlling him. 

He moved his head from side to side and he leapt off of the shelf. Blade was the next puppet to move. Then Six-shooter, then Tunnler, and finally they all were moving on their own.

Each puppet was moving on it's own free will. This was the secret of Andre Toulon the first. Long ago he learned the ancient Egyptian magic of giving life to inanimate figurines, not artificial life, real life and independent thought. 

Young Andre learned of this magic when he was very young. He knew the secrets and also how this magic could be used to give anyone everlasting life. And if put into the wrong hands this magic could be abused. 

Andre walked over to the sofa and sat down on it. He looked over to the puppet Torch and said, "Torch light a fire please."

Torch gave out a happy grunt. None of the puppets could speak they could only give curtain grunts, laughs, or hisses. Torch's eyes light up bright red as he pointed the tube on his left arm at the fireplace. 

The tube of coarse was a small flame-thrower that could release a blast of fire about eight feet long. In no time he let loose his mighty flame and the fire was lit.

Six-shooter began to give a menacing laugh, which was his way of talking. Young Andre looked into the fireplace. Blade jumped onto the couch and sat along side him. Blade was the puppet that Andre knew the longest.

As Andre starred at the fire he said, "I know where Rogue is now guys. I just don't really know the location of this Xavier Institute."

A familiar voice was then heard. "Our problems have grown worse my grandson."

Andre turned to the puppet known as Decapitron. This particular puppet was unique among the others. He was the only puppet that could serve as a messenger of the first Puppet Master Andre Toulon I.

The young Puppet Master watched as the head of the faceless puppet transformed into the face of an old man. He had gray scraggily hair and a goatee. This was the face of the first Andre Toulon. 

Young Toulon looked at the face of his grandfather. "More trouble," he asked. "We can't deal with more difficulties. We already have that cult on our ass almost every day."

"This is a greater evil," said his grandfather. "The girl called Rogue has been discovered by the demon lord Suetek. In no time at all he will send his Totems after her. We must work quickly."

"I can't go out there right now," said the grandson. "That cult's still looking for me. If I step one foot outside this house I'll be putting all the puppets in danger." He paused and looked down at his small companions. Jester and Pinhead stood along side the couch near their master. Tunneler was watching the stairs making sure that none of the Brother Hood was coming down. 

After a while young Andre said, "I can't handle this."

The older Toulon sat next to his grandson. "You have been doing well," he said. "You were younger then I was when I first learned of the magic. And ever since it fell into your hands you have been doing all you could to keep it protected. Just trust yourself, I'm sure what ever you choose to do will be the right thing."

With that the head of the old Puppet Master disappeared and was replaced with the faceless head of Decapitron. Young Toulon stood up from the couch. He walked over to the window and thought for a while. 

Before he turned back to his puppets he said, "Blade, Pinhead, and Tunneler come here." By the time he turned around the three were all ready in front of him. He knelt down and said, "I want you guys to find this Xavier Institute. Find out which of those X-people is Rogue. As soon as you do that protect her as best you can until I find the place. Do what ever you have to do, but don't reveal yourselves to her until you are positive that you knew she is Rogue."

They all nodded. Andre turned to the other puppets and said, "the rest of you stay here. I don't trust the people that live in this house very much and I don't want all of you running around the streets."

All the puppets agreed. Blade, Pinhead, and Tunneler headed for the door as Andre opened it. As they walked out Blade turned to his master. Andre said to him, "take care of them Blade."

The white puppet nodded and followed his comrades out the door. The night was very dark. The three puppets ran through the night, hiding in the shadows so no one would see them.


	3. 3 Meeting the Puppets

Meeting the Puppets

Rogue stood in the mall as Kitty and Jean looked through the stores. It was Saturday now and Rogue had hoped she could relax from last nights Danger Room session. But Kitty and Jean had other plans for her. They insisted that they take her shopping.

The Goth waited outside the store as Kitty and Jean looked through this and tried on that. Rogue hated shopping especially at the mall. She couldn't stand looking at everybody else trying on cloths she couldn't wear on the count of it would expose her untouchable skin. She also hated watching every body walking with their friends or talking with their families. It made her feel so alone.

All she did was lean against the side of the store, but little did she know she was being watched by little eyes. In the store across from her Blade, Pinhead, and Tunneler were watching. The three puppets did their best to stay out of view. They had been searching for the Institute all night. 

When they were outside of the mall they saw Scott drop off the three girls and they heard him say, "I'll meat you guys back at the institute alright."

When the puppets heard the word institute they decided to follow the three girls. Now they were watching one of them. The pale girl with the purple lips.

They waited in their hiding place until the white girl turned her head away from their direction. Blade was the one to make the move. He ran across the hall of the mall, dashing through feet and legs of the many mall goers. He hoped that none of them had seen him run by.

When he reached the other side he hid behind a plant that stood next to Rogue. As he waited he saw a girl with her arms linked with a boy's pass the pale girl. 

Rogue watched the couple pass her. The boy stopped and looked at her. The girl nudged the boy and said, "don't look at her, she's one of those mutant freaks. They're nothing to us."

Rogue became angry. She was about to say something when she heard the girl that just insolated her give a yelp of pain. The girl said, "ow! Something cut my leg!" Rogue looked down and saw a two-inch long cut on the girl's ankle. 

Blade watched the girl and the boy quickly walked away. He then whipped the blood off of his knife hand and onto the side of the potted plant he was hiding behind. That girl had made him very angry. Mainly because his master was a mutant, but also because that human insulted the pale girl for being a mutant. He was very fond of his master and hated when he heard people insult him for being different. When the human insulted the pale girl it reminded him of all the other people that insulted his master.

Rogue watched the girl walk away. A small smile formed on her face. Ever since mutants were discovered she had heard many people insult her behind her back, or in her face. This was the first time a person paid for insulting her and she wouldn't get blamed for it. But it didn't mean she didn't like humans. Not all the humans in Bayeville hated mutants but a lot of them did. 

Blade watched from behind the plant and saw the smile form on the Goth's face. He then turned back and saw Pinhead and Tunneler running towards him. They ran behind the plant and joined Blade. Now they all watched the pale girl. 

Eventually Kitty and Jean exited the store. Each had one bag full of clothing. Rogue didn't take her back away from the wall. She looked at the two as they giggled about something she didn't hear. "Can we go home now," she asked getting very inpatient with this whole mall trip.

"Oh come on Rogue," said Kitty. "We haven't been here for like, that long."

Behind the plant Blades mouth dropped open. The little points hidden in his black eyes stuck out giving him a surprised look. So this girl was the one they were looking for. They had searched for her for so many years, and now here she was. 

When they had left the Brother Hood house they expected their search to be a little more difficult, but now the girl had come to them. However they couldn't reveal themselves to her right now. They were in a crowded area and they didn't really know the other two girls Rogue was with. They didn't know if they could be trusted.

They watched as Rogue crossed her arms in a stubborn fashion. Kitty said, "just stop it Rogue this was only the first store that we've been in."

Rogue then said sarcastically, "yeah and it only took you like, an hour to look around."

"Well excuse me for enjoy myself," said Kitty. "For crying-out-loud why can't you enjoy yourself Rogue. You're always acting so down and dark. Why can't you just live a little?"

Rogue was about to retaliate, but Jean stepped in. "Just calm down," she said, "we're here to relive a little tension remember. We've all been shaken up a bit by every thing that's happened in such a short period of time, so lets just relax and enjoy the rest of the day."

The two girls calmed down. Jean looked at Rogue and saw that she was really not having a good time. The red head said softly to her, "follow me Rogue, I know a store you'd like."

Kitty and Jean began to walk in a curtain direction. Rogue followed them. Suddenly she heard the sound of small footsteps following her. She quickly turned around, but there was nothing there. She looked around curiously and then began to follow her mall companions again.

As soon as she looked away Blade, Pinhead, and Tunneler came out from hiding and began following her again. They were more cautious now. Every move they made was almost as silent as the grave.

*************************************************************

"This is the place," Jean said as she pointed to a small shop called Black Star. Rogue looked at it. This was a store that mainly sold cloths and items for Goths and Punks. 

Jean said, "you can look around this store until we come back for you if you want."

"Ok," Rogue said casually. At least this place had stuff that was in her interest. She walked into the store as Kitty and Jean left to do more shopping.

The store had every thing a Goth could want. Make up, black shirts, chains, chokers, they had it all. She began searching through a set of shirts. She pulled out a shirt that was black and had no sleeves. It was a very pretty shirt, but Rogue knew she couldn't wear it; it would expose her skin. But she still couldn't put it down.

She looked over to the dressing room. 'It wouldn't hurt to just try it on,' she thought. She took the shirt off the rack and walked into the dressing room. 

In a small hidden corner of the shop the three puppets watched her as she entered the other room. They looked over to the owner of the store and saw him reading a magazine. After they were confident that no one was watching them they quickly ran into the dressing room. 

Inside one of the changing areas Rogue put on the sleeveless shirt. It felt good to have her arms exposed and not having to worry about bumping into someone. She looked in the mirror and thought the shirt really went well with her black skirt and boots. She was even being tempted to by the shirt even though she couldn't wear it.

Her thoughts were soon broken when she saw a small figure run by the bottom of the door in the mirror. She quickly turned around and saw that the figure was gone. With a nervous voice she said, "hello? Is any one there?'

There was no reply. Her heart began to pound as she began to open the door. "Who ever you are," she said, "Ah know how to defend mahself. So don't try anything funny."

She took off her gloves even though her arms were exposed. As she walked she made sure that no one was standing behind her. 

Then her foot hit something that came out of nowhere. Rogue tripped and fell down, hitting the floor hard. "Damn it," she yelled out very frustrated. She turned around to see what she tripped on.

There near her feet laid the puppet called Pinhead. He had fallen over after Rogue's foot hit him. He remained motionless as the Goth picked him up.

She looked at the puppet not knowing it was really alive. About three feet away from her she saw two more little dolls Blade and Tunneler. 

Looking from puppet to puppet she then was hit by her own memories. She said quietly to herself, "you're those little things Ah saw in mah dreams."

The puppets remained motionless. They didn't want to reveal that they were alive until they were positive they were somewhere that would be safe from the enemies of their master. 

Rogue quickly got out of the store's shirt and into her normal green transparent one. She picked up all three puppets and brought them to the owner of the store. She placed them on the counter and asked, "how long have you had these things in this store?"

The young owner looked at the puppets. "I don't know," he said. "I never seen these things in this store before."

Rogue looked at each of the puppets. She wanted to take these things back to the institute. Maybe they could reveal something about Andre Toulon and the Puppet Master. "Do you mind if Ah take them off your hands," she asked the man.

"Well," he said, "even though I haven't seen them before, they were in my store I'll tell you what, you can have all three of them for thirty dollars."

"Thirty bucks," she said in disbelief. These puppets didn't even belong to the man, why was he charging her for them. She looked down at the three figures and thought for a while. She felt that she had seen these things before, but not in her dreams and she wanted to know why. Finally she said, "deal," and handed the man the money.

The three puppets stayed as still as they could be. Blade felt Rogue pick him up and then he was placed in a black bag.

*************************************************************

Kitty and Jean walked through the mall. They had bought a few cloths, which they believed were worth the money. 

As they walked they eventually saw Rogue sitting on a bench. She had a nervous look on her face and her hands were shaking. Next to her were three black paper bags that looked like they had something in them.

Jean walked up to her. "Are you ok Rogue? You're shaking like a leaf."

"Ah'm fine," said the Goth. 

After a few more minutes the girls left the mall. As they walked back to the institute Kitty looked down at the three bags Rogue was carrying. "So what did you buy," she asked as she reach for one of the bags to take a look.

Rogue pulled the bag away and said, "nothing."

"Right," Kitty said jokingly, "and I'm sure it's just air in those bags. Come on let me see."

She reached for the bag again and caused Rogue to drop it. The bag hit the ground and out fell Blade. He still remained motionless. Rogue waited quietly. She didn't want to show these puppets to any one until the Professor got a look at them. But now Kitty and Jean knew she had them.

She finally said, "what is your problem Kitty. You don't see me yanking at one of your bags."

Kitty ignored her and looked down at Blade. She picked him up as Jean said, "well would you look at that." She was impressed by the puppet's detail.

"How cute," said Kitty as she began to fiddle with the hook. 

Jean looked to Rogue. She saw the other bags were on the ground. She began to look in them. Rogue didn't stop her. It was pointless to hide the puppets from them now. 

Jean took out Pinhead and Tunneler. She gave an interested smile as she looked at them. "Where'd you get these things," Jean asked.

"At the store you guys left me at," was all Rogue said.

Kitty took Blades knife hand and made it wave at Jean. The knife suddenly slashed down and cut Kitty's finger. 

"OW." She put her finger in her mouth and tasted blood. She looked at the knife and examined it. "Hey, you guys this is a real knife."

Jean and Rogue looked at her in surprise. "Are you sure," Jean asked very puzzled. 

Kitty let her friend feel the knife and said, "I know it's a small knife but it is real. And so is the hook."

Rogue quickly grabbed the puppet away from them. She stuffed all three of them into their bags and began to walk away. She didn't say anything else until they were back at the institute. 

*************************************************************

It was starting to get dark out. Rogue and Kitty were in their room. Rogue laid on her bed and starred at the three puppets now on her dresser. Kitty was checking out her new cloths.

She turned to Rogue and showed her a pink sweater. "What do you think of this one," she asked her.

Rogue said nothing, she just starred. "Hello," Kitty said trying to get her Gothic friends attention.

Rogue twitched a little and then looked at Kitty. "Oh sorry," she said. "Ah guess I kind of spaced out just now."

"Are you ok Rogue," the little prep asked. She was beginning to feel very concerned. 

Before Rogue could answer they heard Bobby call, "come on it's time for dinner."

The two girls left the room. After they were gone Blade slowly moved his head. He jumped off of the dresser and Pinhead and Tunneler soon followed. They examined the closed door.

Pinhead turned to the chair that was placed in front of Rogue's dresser. Both Blade and he went over to it and dragged it over to the door. Tunneler then jumped on it and turned the knob. Blade and Pinhead pushed the door open and all three of them left the room. 

They found themselves in a well-furnished hallway. They were now in the Xavier Institute the place where Rogue lived. They wanted to learn more about the other people that lived with her to make sure that it was safe to reveal themselves here.

They could here Kitty talking from around a corner. Blade led the way as the puppets followed the voice. When they turned the corner they saw Rogue listening to Kitty as they walked downstairs. 

They heard the younger mutant say, "so Lance has been really getting on my nerves lately. He keeps on waiting for me after school even though he's not aloud on school grounds any more"

She went on and on as Rogue just listened. The puppets followed closely behind them. They were not worried about the girls seeing them. 

As the girls began walking down the stairs the puppets stopped. It was true that they were very stealthy, but it was difficult for them to be silent on stairs. Because of their small height it was hard for them to be quiet when climbing up or down steps.

They waited at the top of the stairs until the girls were no longer in their sight. The three of them took the stairs slowly. Even though nobody was near the stairs they still didn't want to make to much noise. 

Blade still led the way. He was afraid of what would happen if all these people in this institute discovered them at the same time. They couldn't talk so they wouldn't be able to explain their presence there.

When all three of the puppets made it down stairs the X-Men were at the dinning room table. The puppets stood in the doorway as the mutants talked with each other about their day, or sports, or any other subject.

A large gruff man entered the dining room. The puppets watched him pass them hoping he wouldn't see them. Luckily he didn't.

"Good evening Logan," they heard the Professor say to the man. However Logan was not courteous. He just sat down and began to eat his diner. 

The puppets watched the entire meal. They learned the names of some of the mutants as they observed. Mainly Logan, Scott, and Kurt. They saw the red haired girl Jean that they saw earlier sitting next to Scott. They were curious as to why he wore the red sunglasses. 

Rogue sat in between Kitty and the mutant called Kurt. The puppets were interested in the blue mutant's appearance. They had heard his German accent and felt comforted. They were from Germany as well. That was where most of them were created.

They watched Rogue as she picked at her food with her fork. She had been thinking about the puppets while every one else was talking around her. 'Why do Ah feel like Ah've seen those things before,' she asked herself in her mind.

She lifted her head away from her food and saw Blades face starring at her. Her eyes turned wide when she saw the little figure looking at her. She wanted to jump up and point to the thing so every body could see it, but something prevented her. 

Blade gasped and hid back behind the corner. Rogue tried her best to look away from the door. Logan lifted his head up and said, "did you hear that?"

The other X-men looked at him. "Hear what," asked Scott.

Logan said, "it was some sort of flapping sound. Kinda like little feet running away."

Rogue thought quickly. "That was me," she said. The X-men looked at her. "Ah Ah was tapping mah foot really fast." 

The other X-Men went back to their food and conversations, but Logan looked at Rogue as if he didn't believe her claim. 

Rogue looked away from him and then stood up from the table. "Ah'm not very hungry. Ah'm just gonna go to bed." 

The X-Men said their good nights as she left the room. When she exited the dinning room she saw the puppets running down the hall. She began chasing them. "Ah see you," she said angrily, "get over here you little bastards."

The Goth chased them through the institute. She was surprised how fast these little things were. She followed them into the game room of the institute. The puppets stopped and realized they had no where else to run.

Rogue entered the room. She saw the puppets standing near the pool table. She picked up a pool cue and said, "all right. Turn around."

Tunneler turned around and saw her. He quickly began to rev up the drill on top of his head. 

Rogue saw the drill and readied her cue. She wanted to know exactly why these things have been following her in her dreams and when she was awake.

Tunneler was ready to charge, but before he could Blade held up his knife in front of him and gave a crackling and hissing, "uh-uh-uh."

The drill headed puppet stopped his drill. Blade looked over to Pinhead who held up his vise-gripped hands in a fighting position. When the small headed puppet saw Blades look he stood normally. 

Rogue watched the puppets do this. She slowly put her pool cue down. "You guys aren't here to hurt me are you," she asked.

All three of the puppets shook their heads.

"Were you sent here by Andre Toulon," she asked.

The puppets nodded. Rogue slowly walked over to them and knelt down in front of them. She slowly slid her gloved hand over each of the puppets. 

"Oh mah God," she said. The young Goth was amazed at what she was seeing. These little doll like things were moving right in front of her eyes. 

She could hear the X-Men talking not to far away from where she knelt. "Follow me," she said to the puppets. She began to walk out of the room and the puppets followed. 

*************************************************************

Rogue opened the door to her room and watched the puppets enter. She noticed her chair away from her desk and moved it back in place. She then sat on her bed and looked at the puppets.

"How is this possible," she asked them, but they did not reply. "Can't you guys talk to me?"

They all shook their heads. Rogue gave an aggravated groan. She had so many questions to ask these things, but now she couldn't get them answered. 

She then asked the only question that she new she could get an answer to. "Is the Puppet Master in Bayeville?" The puppets all nodded.

Then the puppets went over to her dresser. Pinhead pulled the chair out a little and they all climbed on the dresser top. This was so Rogue wouldn't have to look down at them any more. 

Rogue snickered a little at this. She stood up and sat in her chair in front of them. "So what do they call you guys," she asked. After the puppets didn't answer she said, "oh yeah, stupid question."

After she said that Pinhead walked to one side of her dresser and grabbed a peace of paper and a pencil. He wrote down each of their names with difficulty and drew arrows to point to each owner of the name. 

He placed the paper down and Rogue looked at it. She figured they never wrote much because Blade was misspelled. 

She then pointed to each of the puppets. "Tunneler, Pinhead, and Blade?"

Once again they nodded. Rogue laughed a little, "and Ah thought mah name was weird No offence."

With out warning Kitty came phasing into the room. Rogue stood up alarmed and said, "don't you ever knock?"

"It's my room to remember," said Kitty. "Who were you talking to anyway?"

Rogue looked over at the puppets and saw they were motionless. "Ah was talking to mahself."

Kitty gave her a weird look and then began to change into her pajamas. "You're lucky you left the table when you did," she said. "Kurt and the others started like, goofing off and throwing food around. It was totally gross."

Rogue saw Blade looking at Kitty. He then looked at Rogue questioningly. Rogue walked up to him and whispered, "don't worry she's always like that."

"What did you say," asked Kitty turning to her.

Rogue said in a confused voice, "what, Ah didn't say anything."

Kitty shrugged and turned around. Rogue gave a relieved sigh and sat on her bed. She didn't want Kitty to know that her new puppets were alive. She knew that if Kitty knew she would tell every body in the institute. Rogue didn't want any one else to know about the puppets until she at least showed them to the Professor. 

The Goth waited until Kitty was asleep to talk to the puppets again. "So are you guys gonna return to the Puppet Master tonight?"

Tunneler shook his head and Rogue smiled. She asked no more questions that night. She just quickly got into her pajamas and got into bed.

She asked one last question before going to bed. "Will you guys be all right up there?" The puppets nodded. Rogue then put her head on her pillow and sleep soon overcame her. 

When he was sure she was asleep Blade jumped off the dresser and ran to Rogues bed. He remembered what young Toloun said to him. He wanted Blade to protect Rogue and that was just what he was going to do.

He climbed on to Rogue's bed and stood next to her pillow. He stood watch over her the entire night. 


	4. 4 The Begining of Chaos

Beginning of Chaos 

At the Brother Hood house Andre Toulon the second was pacing the floor with worry. He had persuaded the Brother Hood to let him stay for one more night. However he knew he couldn't stay there for long. His enemies would come looking for him soon.

He started searching through the small house for any maps of the Bayeville area. The other four puppets were doing the same. They stealthily searched every room of the house trying their best to remain out of view. 

As Andre searched through a dresser Lance came walking in the room. "Hey Toulon," he said angrily, "you left your little friend upstairs."

In his hand he held Torch who was motionless. Andre looked at the puppet and back up at Lance. "Sorry, just put him back on the shelf."

Lance said, "this is the fifth time today that one of us has tripped over one of your damn puppets. If it happens again you ain't getting it back."

He then throw Torch onto the table. The puppet gave a little grunt of shock as he landed on the wooden surface. 

Lance looked over at the puppet. It was still. He shrugged and left Andre alone with the puppet.

The young boy picked Torch up and placed him on his feet. "Are you ok man."

Torch let out a long angry grunt. He was the puppet known for his bad temper. His eyes flared an angry red. Andre said, "don't get mad Torch. These people don't know any better."

Jester and Six-shooter came into the room followed by Decapitron. Jester held a map in his hands. Andre saw this and said, "oh good you guys found a map."

He took the paper and said, "thanks Jester. Ok I want you guys to watch the doors I don't want these Brother Hood people to know what I'm doing."

He began searching the map of Bayeville for the location of the Xavier Institute. He searched every corner with a find toothed comb.

After thirty minutes of searching he said, "nothing? What the hell? Why isn't this institute shown on the map?"

*************************************************************

Outside the Brother Hood house a strange cloaked figure stood with five others. They walked up to the door slowly. They did not wish to draw any attention yet.

The first cloaked figure knocked on the door. After a few minutes it was answered by Wanda. "What do you want," she asked looking at the cloaked man.

The dark figure said, "my name is Vonce. I have come here looking for the Puppet Master. Do you know of his whereabouts?"

Wanda looked at him confused. She didn't know that the young Andre Toulon was the Puppet Master. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are you sure," asked Vonce. "If you have seen him it would be wise to give us information. It would be in your best interest."

Wanda opened the door wider with her eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat?"

Vonce looked behind her just as Andre came walking in the room. The cloaked man shoved the girl aside and took out a large knife. "Well, well, well," he said, "it looks like we meet again young Toulon."

Andre's face turned to terror as he said, "Vonce? How did you find me?"

"We have our ways," he said. "Do not try to escape this time. I assure you that evading us again will be quiet impossible. Surrender now and your death will be totally painless."

Andre held his cane up as if ready to strike with it. "Screw you!" he yelled. 

Just then Wanda jumped up and punched Vonce right in his hidden face. The other five cloaked figures entered the room. Two of them grabbed hold of Wanda's arms and threw her out the door.

She hit the ground and slid for a few feet. When she looked back up the door was closed and locked. 

Back inside the house Andre began to fight. He used his cane both for balance and a weapon. Every time one of Vonce's men came at him he hit them right in the face with the snake head of his cane. 

The other Brother Hooded members came down stairs and saw what was happening. Lance yelled, "what the hell is going on?!" 

All the cult members turned to them. They each took out large knives. All of them then heard a cracking sound and the front door busted open. Wanda entered the room ready to hex who ever attacked her first.

Fred jumped down the stairs causing the ground to shake when he landed. Vonce stood from where he laid just as one of his followers went in for an attack on the Brother Hood. Fred stood in the cloaked man's path and threw him across the room. The man landed on a table causing it to break.

Young Andre turned to Vonce as the man said, "kill them all."

The cloaked men and the Brother Hood began to fight. Todd leapt around the room drop kicking who ever he could. Vonce caught him in mid air and slammed him against the ground. The mutant was knocked out cold in this process. 

Wanda used her Hex on every one of the cloaked men, but no matter how many times she hexed them they refused to be knocked down.

Fred was the only one who was really doing any damage to their foes. He used his size and wait as an advantage like he always did.

Andre stayed out of the brawl. He needed to get out of that house. He knew that if he was not there then his enemies wouldn't kill the Brother Hood.

The boy dressed in black ran for the room that his puppets were in. Wanda saw him leave the fight. She ran into the room that Andre entered just as he closed the door. 

Andre saw her run in, but he didn't ask her why she did. He locked the door and put his back against it.

"What the hell's going on here Toulon," Wanda asked angrily.

All Andre said was, "they found me. I don't know how, but they found me. I gotta get out of here."

One of Vonce's men began ramming the door. Andre ran for a window. Before he could open it Wanda spun him around so he faced her.

She grabbed the collar of his over coat and said, "look pal, we gave you a place to stay and now we've got some nut jobs attacking us because they're after you. Now I want to know why these guys are after you and I want to know now."

Andre shoved the girl away from him and said, "you wanna know why these guys are after me, well look behind you."

Wanda turned and saw the puppet called Torch standing behind her. He saw her grab Andre's jacket and thought she was attacking his master.

Torch held out his flame thrower hand and let loose a blast of fire. Wanda fell backwards, barley missing the hot blast.

When the fire stopped she felt something standing on her chest. She looked up and saw Jester standing over her.

Jester's head began to spin. Each of the three layers of his head spun in a different direction.

Wanda gasped and knocked Jester off her. She stood up and saw the four other puppets standing around her. Six-shooter had all six of his guns aimed at her. Decapitron stood next to him.

Jester stood up next to the faceless puppet. Decapitron suddenly removed his faceless head and put it down next to him. Jester then placed his attack head on the puppet's neck.

It was a strange mechanical head, shaped some what like a cube standing on one of it's corners. It had a ball on top of it with four things that looked like spark plugs. These four things and the metal ball caused an electrical current that could reach up to nine feet.

Torch stood four feet away from Decapitron with his flame thrower ready to fire. Wanda was both afraid and amazed by the puppet's sudden movement and life. She heard Andre say, "don't harm her guys."

The puppets backed away and stood next to their master's feet. Andre said, "I hold the magic that can give life to inanimate figurines and bring people back from the dead. This cult is after me to take the magic from me and use it for their own cruel intentions. I need to find the girl called Rogue because she plays a great part in this whole thing. How and why are my business, so I need to get out of here before that cult catches me."

Wanda gave a satisfied nod as the man rammed the door again. Andre opened the window and helped his puppets out. He then turned to Wanda and said, "I need you to show me where the Xavier Institute is. I have no goddamn clue where it is located. Will you take me there?"

Wanda was about to answer no when the cloaked man barged in the room. The scarlet witch began to rev up her hex, but Andre stopped her by standing in front of her. 

He said to the cloaked figure, "back off now, or let your fear over come you."

The cloaked man said, "smooth talk you little bastard, but words will not stop me."

Andre then stared at the man with a look of concentration. A small high-pitched humming sound came from behind young Toulon's eyes. The cloaked figure began to walk over to the boy, but stopped when his cloak began to smoke. He began to feel hot. "What's going on here," he demanded.

Andre said, "remember your fear of fire asshole?"

The man suddenly burst into flames. He screamed and tried to put the fire out with his hands. Wanda's eyes turned wide with shock. Andre turned back at her and asked, "well, will you help me or not?"

Wanda only nodded. She didn't want to say no to the boy after she saw what he did. Andre helped the girl out of the window and then left himself. As soon as they were outside Wanda said, "the institute's this way. Follow me." Andre and his puppets followed her into the night. 

Back inside the man that was caught on fire was still screaming. Suddenly the flames on his body disappeared. 

In the other room the other cult members were still fighting the Brother Hood. Lance was about to punch Vonce in the face, but the cloaked man grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground. 

The other Brother Hood members stopped fighting and watched as their friend gasped for air. Vonce was about to break the mutant's neck when the man that was on fire entered the room. He said, "the Puppet Master escaped."

Vonce stopped and dropped Lance. "HOW," he yelled angrily.

The cloaked man said, "he used his mutant ability on me and then fled."

Vonce looked at the rest of his men and said, "come, we must find him. There is no point in killing these mutants now; they are obviously not friends of his. He wouldn't have abandoned them if they were." 

The cult then left the Brother Hood house. All the members looked at each other confused. They then walked over to Todd and tried to bring him back to consciousness.

*************************************************************

The next morning Rogue woke up slowly. She had had no dreams that night, just peace. The covers felt warm around her. She was so happy that it was Sunday and that she could sleep in. The comfort of the bed overcame her and she did not wish to get up quite yet. She didn't care what time it was. All that mattered now was the comfort of her bed. 

Rogue suddenly felt something next to her pillow. She opened her eyes and gave a surprised gasp. When she looked to see what it was all she saw was Blade standing next to her. She sighed and put her head back on her pillow.

"Blade, what are you doing," she asked. She then rolled her eyes remembering that the puppets couldn't talk. She looked behind Blade and saw Pinhead, and Tunneler watching her from her dresser. 

The Goth sat up and asked, "you guys weren't watching over me all night were you?"

All the puppets nodded. She smiled and got out of bed. The comfort that was there before had disappeared and Rogue didn't want to wait for it to come back. 

Kitty was not in the room. Rogue figured that she left and didn't think to wake her up. She was alright with that though. 

She got dressed not minding that the puppets were in the room with her as she did. As she put on her transparent shirt she said, "um, Pinhead could you hand me that brush on mah dresser there?"

Pinhead looked around and saw a brush next to Tunneler. He picked it up and held it out to the Rogue. She took it and brushed her hair starting in the back of her head and ending with her white bangs. 

There was a knock at the door. A voice came from behind it saying, "Rogue, it's Logan."

Rogue gave a panicked look. She didn't want Logan to see the puppets right now. "Uh, Ah'm coming," she said trying to act as normal as possible. 

She looked over to Blade as he jumped off of her bed and ran under her dresser. Pinhead and Tunneler jumped off her dresser and did the same. 

Rogue put on her gloves and opened the door. Logan stood in the hall with a concerned look on his face. Rogue looked at him and asked, "what's wrong Logan?"

The gruff man looked at her and said, "you've been acting strange lately. Everybody's been worried about ya. I just want to know if there's anything wrong."

Rogue thought up a lye quickly. "Ah've just been shaken up by this whole Apocalypse thing."

"It wasn't your fault that he escaped Rogue," said Logan rather concerned. 

"Ah know," said Rogue, "but still Ah'm the one who released him, and Ah've just really been taking it hard."

Logan sighed and said, "look just come to me if you need somebody to talk to."

"All right," said Rogue. 

Logan walked away. Rogue gave a sigh of relief and turned around. When she did she saw Blade, Pinhead, and Tunneler standing right behind her. They were looking at the area where Logan was just standing.

Rogue closed the door and looked back at the puppets. "Are you guys trying to protect me," she asked.

They all nodded and looked back at where Logan was standing even though the door was closed. Rogue smiled at them and said, "thanks, but you don't have to worry about Logan, he's mah friend. And the other people here wouldn't hurt me."

The puppets were not satisfied with this. True the people here may be able to be trusted, but Suetek was still looking for her. 

Pinhead walked away from the other puppets and sat on Kitty's dresser. Tunneler walked over to the chair near Rogue's desk and sat on it. Blade just stood where he was.

Rogue sat on her bed and looked at the puppets. "Maybe Ah should show you guys to the Professor today. Ah'm not gonna be able to hide you for much longer."

Blade looked to Pinhead and then to Tunneler. He wasn't comfortable with being shown to this Professor who ever he was, but if it had to be done then all three of them would agree.

"How am Ah going to get you down there without the other X-Men seeing you though," Rogue asked herself. "I don't want them to see you until the Professor does. So how am Ah gonna do this?"

She looked across the room and saw her trench coat hanging in her closet. She gave a sly smile to herself and walked over to her closet. The puppets watched her confused as she took out the trench coat.

*************************************************************

Outside the institute a strange man came walking up to the door. He placed a small shipping crate on the step and knocked on the door. 

He turned and walked away. He walked right through the entrance gate as if he were a mist. 

A few seconds later Jean opened the door. She found the small crate on the porch and picked it up. She read the card on it saying, "for Rogue." The young red head shrugged and brought the crate inside.

*************************************************************

Rogue struggled with Blade trying to fit him in her trench coat comfortably. She had it all figured out. 

Pinhead and Tunneler would hang onto her legs as she walked to the Professor's office and Blade would hold onto her chest. The reason for this was because Pinhead was to big and would have made a huge lump in her trench coat, and she didn't completely trust Tunneler's control over his drill. 

Rogue kept readjusting Blade so neither of them would be uncomfortable on the way to the Professor's office.

When Blade was finally positioned right he gave a frustrated grunt. Rogue looked at him and said, "Ah'm sorry little guy Ah just can't let the others see you yet."

Blade gave another grunt and gave Rogue a quick stab in her breast. "OUCH!" Rogue looked in at Blade and said, "don't prick me like that again."

She stood up and headed for the Professor's office. The puppets remained quiet as she walked.

*************************************************************

Professor Xavier sat in his office with Ororo, Hank, and Logan. Most of the students were out doing their own thing, so this was their first chance to sit back and relax for a change. Unfortunately that wasn't what they were doing.

They had been discussing ideas for new lessons in the danger room. Logan stood in the corner quietly not paying much attention to the conversation. 

The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. They all turned towards the door as Rogue entered through it. 

The young Goth looked around the room and saw that the Professor was not alone. She had hoped there wasn't anybody else with him. When she saw Logan she became very nervous. She had lied to him no longer than five minutes ago and now she had to show him that she wasn't telling him the truth before.

As Rogue walked towards the Professor Hank asked, "Rogue why are you wearing a trench coat? It's almost eighty degrees outside."

Rogue ignored him and turned to the Professor. "Professor I need to talk to you," she said. "It's about..."

She paused and looked around at the other people in the room. She took a deep breath and said, "It's about the Puppet Master."

The other adults gave her a confused look, but Charles knew what she was talking about. "Would you like the others to leave Rogue," he asked gently.

"No," Rogue said. "Now that they know why Ah'm here Ah don't think Ah can hide this from them any longer."

"What is this about Rogue," Ororo asked.

"Ah'll show you," said Rogue as she walked into the middle of the room. She reached into her trench coat as the others heard a strange grumbling sound. 

Rogue pulled Blade out of her trench coat. She placed him down in front of her and he looked at the other people in the room. The adults watched in amazement as they saw a little doll like figure moving around on it's own.

Rogue looked down towards her legs and said, "come on guys you can come out now."

Around the bottom of her trench coat Pinhead and Tunneler came out and stood next to Blade. 

Hank's eyes were wide. "What are these things," he asked. 

"Their puppets that move on their own," Rogue said as she took off her trench coat. "They belong to Andre Toulon and the Puppet Master."

She looked over to Logan and saw the stern and curious look in his eyes. Rogue said nervously, "they're the reason Ah've been acting so strange lately." 

Logan stepped over to her saying, "why didn't you tell me about this upstairs?" He tried to sound gentle and understanding, but his words didn't sound like that at all.

Blade saw him coming towards Rogue. He ran to the mutant's feet and cut his ankle. Logan gave a quick grunt of pain and his wound healed instantly. 

"Blade stop that," Rogue said angrily to the puppet. Blade walked back to the side of Pinhead and Tunneler.

Rogue looked back at Logan and said, "he was just trying to protect me."

"You named them," Xavier asked.

"No," said Rogue. "The names they have belong to them, Ah didn't make them up." She pointed to the puppets as she said their names. "The big one is called Pinhead, the one with the drill on his head his Tunneler, and the white one with the hook and the knife is called Blade."

Ororo snickered in amusement at the puppet's names. She knelt down beside them and looked at them in wonder. "How is this possible," she asked turning to Rogue.

"That's one problem, Ah don't know how these things can move," was her answer. "All Ah know is that they were sent here by the Puppet Master for some reason. To protect me from something maybe."

Once again there was a knock at the door. "Professor, its Jean. I've got something here for Rogue, and I heard her voice in here."

Rogue looked at the Professor and said, "Ah don't want any body else to see the Puppets yet."

Xavier nodded and looked at the puppets, "would you three please hid under my desk." He felt kind of silly talking to these puppets. He gave himself an amused smile.

The puppets nodded and hid under the Professor's desk. Jean entered the room holding a small shipping create in her hands. "Rogue this came for you," she said.

The red head looked around the room. She saw Hank looking at the Professors desk. Ever since the puppets were revealed he had a look of pure astonishment on his face and he couldn't make it go away. 

"Are you alright Mr. McKoy," Jean asked.

Hank shook his head and said, "uh yes I'm fine."

Jean gave him an inquisitive look and then turned back to Rogue. "Here's the package, Rogue."

Rogue said, "just put it in mah room and Ah'll get to it later."

"But if it's in a shipping crate then it must be important," Jean disagreed.

Rogue said a little more sternly, "just put it in mah room."

Charles then said to Jean, "it's all right Jean, just put it in her room. We have to discuss a few things with Rogue."

Jean became very confounded. What was Rogue doing here in the first place? What ever the reason was she didn't question the Professor. She just nodded and left the room.

As soon as she was gone Rogue aloud the puppets to come out from hiding. Charles watched the little figures walk right back to Rogue's side.

He looked into the Goth's eyes and said, "you know we will have to show these things to the other X-Men."

Rogue sighed and asked, "do we have to?"

Charles said, "I feel that it is the right thing to do Rogue. I doubt you will be able to hide these puppets from them forever." 

Rogue gave another sigh and said, "alright call a meeting and lets get this over with."

*************************************************************

Jean entered the bedroom of Rogue and Kitty. She placed the crate down on Rogue's bed and left. As soon as she was gone the crate began to move. In only a few seconds a small clawed hand came busting through the top. 

The crate was broken open and out came a creature no bigger than the puppets. It had a jagged dome like head with two deep holes in the side that held it's eyes. The creature was somewhat reptilian like, but had no tail. It stood upright like a man. It had two five fingered hands with razor sharp claws on them.

The creature looked around the room and jumped out of the crate. The small demon soon heard the voice of Suetek say, "good my child. Now go forth and observe the ones that surround the girl as we release your brothers." 

The creature nodded. He hid the crate under Rogue's bed and left the room through a heating vent. He scurried through the vents searching for the children of the Xavier Institute. 


	5. Toulon Meets the Rogue

Toulon meets the Rogue

"This is impossible," said Scott as he looked at the three puppets on the table. Rogue and the Professor had revealed them to all the X-Men and Rogue explained all she knew about them, which wasn't much.

All of the X-Men had opened mouths and a look of pure shock. Kurt slowly walked up to the puppet called Pinhead and began to run one of his fingers over the puppets red sweater. Kurt said in his accented voice, "you sure are buff little guy. Has somebody been feeding you steroids or something like that."

Pinhead gave an angry grunt and hit the furry mutant's hand away. None of the puppets really trusted these X-Men yet. They didn't want to open up to them at least until their master arrived.

Kurt backed away and sat back down. Rogue pulled up a chair and sat next to the puppets on the table. "It's ok Pinhead, you guys can trust them."

"So you knew these guys could move when you like, found them in the mall," Kitty asked, as she tried not to sound so child like. Seeing these doll like things moving made her feel kind of like a little girl again, when she wished her dolls were alive.

"Kind of," said Rogue. "Ah knew that there was something weird about them. Ah just didn't know exactly what."

Scott asked, "do you know anything else about this Toulon guy, besides that the nazis were hunting him down and he shot himself?"

Rogue shook her head. She looked back at the puppets. They were looking around the room at each one of the X-Men and the younger students. 

Jean stood up and walked over to the puppets. She was just as interested in them as every one else. She couldn't help but want to touch them.

She reached out her hand towards Tunneler and said, "hey, little guy."

Tunneler started up the drill on his head and pointed it at Jean's hand. She retracted it quickly to avoid a serious injury. 

Jean gave a frustrated grunt and said, "will you guys stop attacking us when ever we try to get close to you." 

Rogue stood up and said angrily, "they just don't trust you guys yet Jean. Just give them a little time."

Jean apologized and sat down. "How come these things only trust you," asked Bobby looking at the puppets. 

"They're puppets Bobby," said Rogue, "and Ah don't know why they trust me."

The creature that was sent by Suetek was watching the meeting. He was out of the heating vents now and standing in the doorway of the room the students were in. 

Blade began to look around the room. He looked toward the doorway and saw the creature looking in at them. He knew what it was right away.

The X-Men watched as Blade gave a little gasp. The other two puppets turned to the doorway as the creature ran away. 

"What's wrong with them," asked Kitty.

The puppets jumped off the table and ran out of the room. Rogue watched them leave. "Wait guys, where are you going," she yelled after them, but they were gone.

The Goth ran out of the room and looked around the halls, but the puppets were no where in site. She ran back in the room and said to the X-Men, "those guys don't know their way around the institute, they could get lost."

The X-Men we surprised by the worry in her voice. Scott stood up and said, "don't worry Rogue we'll help you find them." Jean, Kitty, and Kurt left the room with Scott and Rogue as they went to look for the puppets.

*************************************************************

Andre Toulon the second followed Wanda as best he could. He tried hard to catch up with her, but it was difficult with his can supporting him. His puppets followed close behind him.

They had been moving slow all day and it was now getting dark. Eventually Wanda stopped. "Well this is it, the Xavier Institute," she said pointing to a huge mansion.

Andre walked up to the gate and tried to open it without success. He looked at Wanda and asked, "how the hell am I suppose to get in here?"

"That's your problem," she said. "I led you here and now you're on your own," and she left him.

Andre gave her a cursing look and turned back to the gate. He saw a little mechanical pad off to the side. He began to slowly run his thumb along it. 

The pad suddenly buzzed and said, "access denied."

Andre backed away from the box. He looked down at Decapitron and said, "Decapitron short circuit this thing."

Decapitron nodded and let out a strong electrical current at the pad. It gave out a few electric volts and then shut down. 

Andre reached for the gate and opened it slowly. He held it open for his puppets and then entered himself.

*************************************************************

Inside the institute Blade led Pinhead and Tunneler to the bottom of the staircase near the front door. 

Suddenly the handle to the door began to move. The Puppets turned and watched the door open. Young Toulon entered the room with the other four puppets. He immediately saw Blade and the other two. 

"You guys are here," he asked relieved. "Does that mean that Rogue is here?"

Blade nodded. Andre smiled at this fact. He then heard a screeching sound coming from the top of the stairs. He looked up and saw the creature that was sent by Suetek.

"Jesus Christ,' he yelled out in surprise. The creature ran away. Andre would have followed it, but he had difficulty going up stairs really fast.

He looked down at Blade and asked, "was that thing sent by Suetek?"

Blade nodded. "Oh perfect," Andre said angrily. "We've gotta get that thing before it gets Rogue. Pinhead, you and Six-shooter team up and search up those stairs. Torch you go with Tunneler and search to, and Decapitron, you'll go with Jester. I want you guys to go upstairs and split up into seperate groups. Blade I want you to show me which of these X-People is Rogue ok?"

They all nodded. "Let's move," said Andre. The other six puppets ran upstairs as Blade led Andre to the room that the X-Men were just in. When they arrived their the room was empty. "Where are they," young Toulon asked Blade. Blade shrugged. They both began running through the house looking for Rogue.

*************************************************************

Jean had separated from the other X-Men. She figured that they would be able to find the puppets quicker if they all had split up. She had received a mind probe from the Professor saying that the other students were looking as well. Now she was confident that the puppets would be found quickly.

Jean knew that these puppets wouldn't do them any harm, but she was just eager to find them again. Rogue seemed to be attached to these puppets for some reason, and she wanted to do this for her.

She heard a strange grumbling sound coming from her room. The red head opened her door slowly and entered. "Hello," she called. She then remembered the names that Rogue said the puppets had. "Tunneler, Pinhead? Are you guys in here?"

A sudden screech came from the top of her dresser. She turned around and saw the strange small creature standing on her dresser. The creature leapt onto her face and began to scratch her with it's sharp claws. 

She began to scream as the thing clawed her. Jean let out a burst of her mind power and sent the creature flying across the room. It hit a wall and then landed on the floor motionless.

Jean knelt down holding her scratched up face. There were only three sets of scratches, but they had hurt so much.

She looked over at the creature on the floor. It instantly stood back up and attacked her once again. It's sharp claws dug into her chest. 

The young girl tried to pull the creature away, but it was very strong for it's small size. The pain in her chest became immense and she blacked out.

Outside of the room young Andre heard the girl screaming. He ran into the room and saw the creature on her. "Hey," he yelled angrily and hit the thing off the girl with his cane. 

The creature stood back up and lunged at the Puppet Master. Blade stood in its away and knocked it down with his hook. The creature stood up again.

It saw an open window and leapt out of it. Andre tried to catch it, but the thing was to quick. He watched as the creature landed on the ground and ran away.

Andre turned back to the girl on the ground. He knelt down beside her and turned to Blade, "is this Rogue?"

Blade shook his head. Andre was relieved by this, but was still concerned for the girl who ever she was. He felt the girls pulse. It was a slow steady beat.

The door to the room then slammed open and in walked Logan. He had heard the girl screaming and went to see what was wrong. 

Andre stood and looked at the man in front of him. Logan looked from the boy to Jean bleeding on the floor.

"What did you do to her," the man asked angrily.

"What are you talking about," Andre asked. He then looked at his hands and saw that some of the girl's blood was on them. "Oh shit Look sir I had nothing to do with this here."

Logan let his claws out of his hands and said, "don't lye to me."

Andre jumped back at the sight of those claws. Logan jumped at the boy readying his blades. The boy dodged the attack and ran out the door, Blade followed close behind him. 

*************************************************************

Rogue kept looking through the halls. She wanted to find the puppets quickly. She didn't know why she cared so much about them right now; she had not had them for very long.

Rogue heard a menacing laugh behind her. When she turned around she saw the puppet called Six-shooter standing behind her. She looked down at the little six-armed cowboy as he pulled out all six of his guns.

The puppet aimed his weapons at the girl, but before he could fire a small muscular arm extended in front of him. 

Rogue saw Pinhead stand next to the puppet she hadn't seen yet. "Pinhead, do you know this guy," she asked. Pinhead nodded.

Rogue looked back at the little cowboy. She began to walk over to it. Just then young Toulon ran around the corner and crashed into the pale girl. 

They both fell backwards and landed on the floor. Blade turned the corner as they fell.

Andre stood back up and looked down at the girl. Rogue looked up at him prepared to yell at who ever it was, but when she saw his face all she could say was, "oh mah God, It's you."

Andre said, "you can mean a lot of things lady," and then began to run again. 

Rogue stood back up and said, "you're the Puppet Master."

Andre stopped and turned to the girl. "You know who I am?"

"Yeah," said Rogue. "Ah've been wondering when you were gonna find me ever since you sent these puppets to me." 

Before Andre could say another word Logan rounded the corner with his extended claws. Andre took off again and Logan followed him.

Rogue yelled after the man, "Logan wait, he's the" but he was already gone.

Rogue looked down at the three puppets and said, "you guys stay here," and she ran after Logan.

Of course the puppets didn't listen to her. They ran down the hall, prepared to protect their master.

*************************************************************

Andre ran as fast as he could. He stopped when he came to the stairway that led to the entrance of the institute. 

He began to run down them as quick as he could. His bad leg made it hard for him to keep his balance as he ran at that speed.

Soon his cane slipped out from under his hand and he fell the rest of the way down. As he hit the bottom he looked at his empty right hand. 

He looked up and saw his snake headed cane near the top of the stairs. The boy dressed in black pulled himself to his feet as he saw Logan appear at the top of the stairs. 

Andre began to hobble to the front door. When he was about five feet away he fell down once again. Logan ran down the stairs and stood in front of the fallen boy.

"Why did you attack that girl," he asked angrily.

"I didn't," said Andre as he stood back up.

Rogue arrived at the top of the stairs and saw what was happening. She heard Logan say, "if you didn't do it then explain why her blood is on your hands."

Rogue ran down the stairs as Andre said, "go screw yourself."

Logan was about to attack. Just as he began to lunge at the boy Rogue stood in his path and yelled, "no, Logan! Don't hurt him!"

Logan stopped and said, "what the hell's wrong with you Rogue? He attacked Jean."

"That wasn't me," said Andre. "The reason her blood is on my hands is because I was checking her to see if she was still alive, and luckily she is."

"How do I know your telling the truth," Logan said. His voice sounded very harsh.

"Please Logan," said Rogue, "don't hurt him. Just trust me here, he's not here to harm anyone."

Logan stood motionless. He wasn't sure whether he should trust this guy. Before he could make a decision he felt small hands grab him by the ankles.

He was pulled off balance and landed flat on his face. When he looked up he saw all the puppets standing in front of Rogue and Andre. 

Blade and Decapitron stood side by side. Behind them were Torch, Pinhead, Jester, Tunneler, and Six-shooter.

They were ready to attack the man that would cause harm to their master. But before they could Andre said, "don't attack him. He was just protecting his friend."

The puppet's yielded their attack and walked back until they were next to their master. Rogue looked at all the new puppets in the institute. "Are their any more of these puppets," she asked Andre.

The boy just shook his head. Logan stood back up as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. When they turned around they saw Kitty and Amara coming towards them. 

"What's going on down here," asked Kitty. She sounded very worried about something. "We found Jean unconscious in her room with these huge cuts in her face and chest. Then we heard you guys screaming down here."

"Is Jean all right," asked Logan.

"Yeah," said Amara, "Ororo and Hank took her to the infirmary. They're gonna stitch up her wounds."

They both looked behind Logan and saw the boy dressed in black standing behind them. Rogue was helping him keep his balance on his good leg. The boy said to them, "could one of you get my cane over there on the stairs?"

The girls didn't move, they just stood there starring at him. They then looked from the boy to the seven puppets on the floor.

Rogue shook her head and quickly got the cane for the boy. After she handed it to him he said, "now where is this infirmary?"

"Why do you want to know," Kitty finally spoke.

"Because the wounds on her body need to be treated in a specific way," said young Andre. "If they're not tended to properly then they won't heal."

"I'll show you there," said Logan, still in an untrusting voice. "But I'm not sure if the others will listen to you, I mean we don't know you at all."

Andre said, "well they will have to trust me." Logan was about to lead the way, but the boy stopped him. "First things first," he said and then turned to the three girl. 

Rogue was standing next to Kitty and Amara. Andre asked, "which one of you is Rogue?"

The three girls were silent. Rogue looked at the boy and then stepped forward. "Ah'm Rogue."

The boy then looked at the girl as if he were observing her. He then said, "all right. I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me, but they will have to wait."

Then he followed Logan to the infirmary.

*************************************************************

All the X-Men were sitting in the living room. They had all learned about the presence of Andre and the other puppets in the institute after he had helped take care of Jean. 

Now they all saw the puppets standing before them in the institute. They had learned their names quickly and Andre was about to explain to them what ever they wanted to know.

He paced, using his cane for support as he began. "I know you all probably have a lot you want to know about the puppets and myself. I'm just not quite sure where I should begin."

Rogue, who was sitting closest to the boy said, "how about telling us your name first."

The boy shrugged and said, "my name is Andre Toulon."

"That's impossible," Kurt interrupted, "Andre Toulon killed himself shortly after World War 2"

"I know," said Andre, "he was my grand father. I was named after him."

He then paused and looked at his puppets. He looked back at the X-Men and continued, "my grandfather Andre learned of a magic long ago that was stolen by a secret society that had pledge their allegiance to the demon lord Suetek. The magic formula had the ability to give life to inanimate figurines. Not just artificial life, real life and independent thought. 

The magic also has the ability to bring people back from the dead, and if used correctly it can give any one everlasting life."

The X-Men sat with open mouths. "How is that possible," Hank asked.

"I don't know," said Andre. He changed the subject, "Suetek has been trying for centuries to get back the magic that was stolen from him. He was bent on my grandfather's death, and the death of all the people he cared for. The secret of my grandfather's puppets has been past down to many people over the years until finally it made its way back to me. Unfortunately Suetek knows I have it now. He and his watchers, his followers, will stop at nothing to get it from me."

"Well, if Suetek knows where you are then why hasn't he come after you yet," asked Ororo. All the X-Men were very interested in his story now.

"Because in a way he is trapped," said Andre. "He was imprisoned in a cavern deep below the center of the Earth. His followers and he can come up only if they posses their Totems Totems are like puppets made of flesh and blood, however they have no life of their own. The only way they can be given life is if possessed by Suetek or his Watchers. That was the thing that attacked your friend Jean." 

The X-Men had a look of fear in their eyes, except for Bobby. "Right," he said, "you know this is really hard to believe. I mean I can see that these puppets move, but come on. Magic and some weird ancient society run by a demon."

Rogue looked angrily at Bobby and said, "will you shut up. Ah now this is hard to believe, but stillAh want to hear this." The young Goth knew that she played some sort of roll in this whole thing with the puppets and Suetek. Why else would Andre and the Puppets be looking for her.

Andre continued once again. "The only way the Totems can move without being possessed is if they are given the formula that gives my puppets life. But that isn't the main reason why Suetek is after me. He wants to use the magic for his own immortality."

"Wait a minute," Kitty interrupted, "if this guy Suetek is like, a demon why does he need this formula to live forever?"

"Well, it's true that Suetek is a demon," Andre answered, "but he isn't immortal for some strange reason. He has been able to keep himself alive for so long because of his own little spells and elixirs that he created himself, but they don't give him life for very long. He must take them every so often. But with the formula stolen by my grand father he would only have to take it every half century. And also if he were to get the formula and give his Totems life, they would be able to release Suetek from his prison deep below the Earth."

Andre sighed and said, "I have been able to stay hidden from Suetek until now. Unfortunately he isn't the only one after the magic."

"What do you mean he's not the only one," asked Scott. He leaned forward in his chair. 

Andre said, "before I was born my father had found the Puppets in the Bodega Bay in where my grandfather had shot himself. He had found them with a "friend" of his whose name was Vonce. My dad was planing on taking the puppets with him, but sadly that wasn't the case."

Andre began to sound angry, "it turned out that Vonce was the member of a strange demonic cult called the Hanzain Cult. I have no idea what Hanzain means and I don't care. The cult had been looking for the puppets for such a long time. They wanted to know the formula for their own cruel intentions. My father left the puppets hidden in the Bodega Bay in. Shortly after he married my mother he retrieved them again without Vonce's knowledge."

The X-Men were silent for quiet some time after Andre finished his tale. The boy obviously had a lot of responsibility even at such a young age. 

Rogue finally broke the long silence. "Andre, before you explain anything else, or before any one else asks you any questions, there is one thing Ah have to know. What do Ah have to do with this whole thing? Why have you been looking for me?"

Andre turned to her and said, "you should know Rogue."

"Well Ah don't," she said a little more harshly.

"What do you mean you don't know," said Andre. "You were suppose to have been told about me and about the puppets when you turned five."

"Ah don't know what you're talking about," said Rogue. 

Andre gave and angry groan and said, "your weren't told anything? God damn it, looks like grandpa Toulon was right about Mystique, she couldn't be trusted."

Rogue's eyes turned wide, "wait, you know Mystique? And you know that Ah was left with her?" She spoke with so much shock in her voice.

"Why wouldn't I," said Andre, "It was our grand father's idea for you to be left with her even though he didn't quit trust her."

Rogue spoke even more surprised, "what do you mean our grand father?"

Andre gave a sigh and looked down at his puppets. They all nodded to him. He turned back to Rogue and said, "now listen Rogue, what I'm about to tell you will probably come as quite a shock to you. But"

Rogue interrupted, "WILL YOU JUST TELL ME ALREADY!!!!"

The other X-Men jumped at the sudden raise in Rogue's voice. She had yelled loudly before, but never that loud.

Andre took a deep breath and said, "ok, here it comes I'm your brother Rogue."

The young Goth stood with both her eyes and mouth wide open. She had just met this boy, and he said he was her brother. The only word that came out of Rogue's mouth after that was, "what?"

"I'm your brother," said Andre, "your twin brother, we may not be identical, but we are twins. You are a part of the Toulon family Rogue. Your name is Rogue Toulon."

Rogue didn't no what to say. She didn't no whether to be happy, angry, or even confused. Those words just seemed to echo in her mind. "I'm your brother Rogue." They had hit her like a bag of hammers.

The other X-Men were just as effected by this news as Rogue was. They had hoped that the Goth would have found her family, but they didn't know she was related to a man who held such a great secret.

Rogue suddenly felt very dizzy. She began to stumble a little. The information she just received was too much for her to handle right now. She suddenly passed out.

Logan quickly caught her so she didn't hit the floor. The other X-Men stood around her to make sure she was ok.

Andre said, "I knew I shouldn't have just blurted it out like that." He walked up to the now unconscious Rogue and asked, "is she gonna be alright?"

The Professor looked at him and said, "she'll be fine. I guess she just couldn't really handle what you just told her and she blacked out."

"Wait," said Kurt, "are you saying Rogue just fainted?"

Xavier nodded. Both Kurt and Kitty began to chuckle a little. They never thought Rogue was the kind of person who fainted.

They stopped laughing when they saw Andre giving them an angry look. The puppets stood by and watched as Logan carefully took their master's sister out of the room.


	6. Rogue Learns Her Past

Author's Notes: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank gambitgirl and Anime addicted for their reviews. I will try to keep my story interesting. More will come soon. In this chapter Andre will be doing a lot of explaining, but I will try my best to keep the story interesting.

***********************************************************************************************

Rogue Learns Her Past

Rogue woke up the next morning in the infirmary. She remembered every thing that had occurred last night. She looked to her side and saw Hank standing near by.

"Ah you're awake," he said and walked to the Goth's side.

Rogue sat up and asked, "what am Ah doing here?"

"You blacked out last night," said Hank. "Nothing serious, but we wanted to bring you down here just to be on the safe side."

Rogue sighed and put her head back on the pillow. She turned and saw Jean in a bed beside her.

This was the first time Rogue had seen her since she was attacked. The red head was asleep right now. Her face had three long scratches on it. One near her left eye, one that started near her ear and went down her cheek, and the third went right across her face diagonally. Each scratch was stitched up tightly. 

There was another wound on her neck that led down to the wounds on her chest, which Rogue couldn't see. Jean was very pale on the count of all the blood she had lost. She looked so weak and helpless.

It was true that Rogue didn't like her, but seeing her like this made the Goth feel sorry for perfect little Jean. 

The red head began to stir and then woke up. She turned to the girl in the bed beside her. "Hey, Rogue, are you ok," she asked in a weak voice.

"You're worried about me," asked Rogue, "you're the one who's all cut up."

"I know," said Jean, "but I was awake when Logan and Hank brought you down here last night. They told me what happened."

Rogue looked away from Jean and down at her covered knees. "So you know about Andre?"

Jean nodded. She was about to sit up when Hank stopped her, "Jean don't move around to much. You lost a lot of blood last night and you must relax."

Jean put her head back down. Rogue turned to Hank and asked, "where's Andre."

"He's right over there," Hank pointed across the room.

There was young Toulon. He was asleep in a chair across the room. His cane was leaning against the wall and his puppets stood near by. Rogue couldn't tell whether they were awake or asleep.

Soon he opened one eye and looked at the two girls. Jean had fallen back to sleep so she didn't know about Andre's presence in the infirmary.

The boy picked up his cane and walked over to the side of Rogue's bed. He dragged the chair along with him and sat in it. He looked directly into the girl's eyes. "How you feeling Rogue?" 

"How should Ah feel right now," she asked. "Here Ah've been wondering about mah past and mah family, thinking if Ah even want to know who they are, and now it's all out in the open."

"Well you were suppose to have been told about this at age five," said Andre.

"Ah'm just really confused right now," Rogue said, "right now Ah don't know whether to like you or hate you." She began to ask many questions all at once. "If your are mah brother where have you been for all these years? Who were our parents? Why did they abandon me?"

"Rogue," Andre stopped her, "they abandoned me to, but they did it to protect us. I'll explain every thing right now."

Rogue looked even more confused. Andre looked over and saw Hank listening to them talk. He turned back to Rogue and said, "why don't we go somewhere more privet? This whole thing is a little personal."

Rogue nodded. She grabbed her cloths that had been left next to the bed and changed in a separate room. The puppets followed the two out of the infirmary leave Hank alone with the sleeping Jean.

*************************************************************

Rogue led Andre and the puppets into her room. She was glad Kitty wasn't there, now she would not have to order her to leave. 

Rogue sat down on her bed and Andre pulled up the chair from her desk. The puppets made themselves comfortable on different pieces of furniture in the room. 

Rogue watched Andre lean his cane against her desk. "What's with that cane anyway," she asked.

Andre said, "I have a little problem with my right leg. It's partially paralyzed. The cane helps me get around easily."

He moved his right leg into a comfortable position with his hands and said, "so, what do you want to know?"

"What ever you can tell me," said Rogue.

"I'll start from the beginning," Andre took a deep breath and began the tail. "It all started with Our Grandfather Andre Toulon the first when he lived in Germany during World War two. There he lived with his wife Elsa Toulon and the Puppets. They tried their best to hide the puppets from the Nazis but it wasn't very easy. 

Near the end of the war Elsa gave birth to our father, I don't really know his name. Any way, Our grand parents were worried about having our dad live with them. They didn't know how much longer the war would last and they didn't want their son to grow up in all the chaos. So they smuggled him to America where he lived with some friends that Toulon the first had here."

Andre gave a sad sigh and said, "two weeks later Elsa was killed by the Gestapo. Some how they had discovered Toulon's secret. After Elsa's death he was devastated. He used his Puppets to kill every person who was involved with the death of our grand mother. They killed every one of them."

Rogue put her hand on her chest. "That's terrible," she said. "Why did the Gestapo kill Elsa? She had nothing to do with the Puppet's, did she?"

"That I don't know Rogue," said Andre, then he continued. "Anyway long story short Andre the first came here to America, and you know the rest of the story."

"But that still doesn't tell me about you and mah parents," said Rogue. She then quickly changed her last few words. "Ah mean our parents."

"I'm getting to that," said Andre. "A few years after our Grandfather killed himself the Puppets had been in the Bodega Bay Inn for a long time. They had been discovered and miss guided by other people who have been the Puppet Master before me. After many years our father found them. He spent a long time trying his best to learn about the Puppets and the magic. He was guided by our grandfather."

"Wait," Rogue interrupted, "hold on a second. I thought Toulon shot himself."

"He did," said Andre, "but it was his spirit that directed our father." He stood up and sat near Rogue on her bed. "He helped our father through many difficult times. Finally he learned to take care of the puppets himself, and after that he met our mother. Her name was Starling Hammond."

Rogue slid a little closer to Andre as the boy continued. "They got married and spent many happy years together. But sadly things took a turn for the worst Vonce and the Hanzain Cult discovered our father had the Puppets. Our parents had to move from town to town in order to stay hidden from them. And to make matters worse, Suetek was looking for them as well.

They had to remain hiding from them. They would only go out of the house at night because it was difficult to be seen then. And soon after a while Starling became pregnant with us."

"So they had us when they were hiding from that cult," asked Rogue.

Andre only nodded. "They did love us Rogue, and so did the spirit of Andre Toulon the first. They cared about us very much."

"Oh really," said Rogue sounding a little harsh. "Then why did they abandon us? Face it Andre they didn't want us."

"Yes they did," said Andre. "As we grew up we became very close to the Puppets, and our parents used to watch us play around with them. Some times they could never even put us down, they wanted to hold us all the time."

Rogue gave a little smile, but quickly shook it of and replaced it with her harsh look again. "How do you know all this? We were both to young to remember anything," she said coldly.

Andre said, "because the spirit of our grandfather has been guiding me too. Plus I was told about my past by my foster parents just like Misteik was suppose to tell you."

Rogue's harshness went away, but she still didn't smile, "you still didn't answer me," she said, "why did they abandon us?"

Andre's face became sad. "One day Vonce and his followers found out where we were. He captured all of us and prepared to execute us all. Luckily he didn't find the puppets. They saved us from them and we all tried to get away, but the Hanzain cult followed close behind our parents. Our father, though a mutant, knew he couldn't protect us from them all." He gave another sad sigh.

"So to make sure that they wouldn't catch us, he used himself as a decoy and led them away from our mother and us. The spirit of Toulon and the puppets tried to stop him, but they couldn't The cult captured him and killed him with out mercy."

Rogue sat in shock. "He sacrificed himself for us," she asked. Andre only nodded.

Rogue began to think about all the cruel things that she used to think about her parents. She used to believe that her parents were heartless people that didn't want her because they knew she was a mutant, but now she found out that her thoughts were all wrong. 

"Anyway," Andre continued, "our mother began to believe that she couldn't protect us from the Hanzain cult, or from Suetek, even with the help of the puppets. And our grandfather felt the same way. Even though it hurt them so much, they had to hide us somewhere, so our enemies couldn't find us. The plan was for us to be put in separate foster homes and when we were old enough and the search for us died down we would meet up again and Andre would teach us all his secrets."

"Why were we separated in the first place," asked Rogue, "why weren't we left with the same foster family?"

"Because Toulon thought that if we were separated it would make it more difficult for our enemies to find us. That and if one of us was found another would be able to protect the secret. That doesn't' mean that Toulon cared about the secret more then us, he just knew he had to protect it no matter what."

Rogue asked another question. That was all she really had to say. She had so many questions and they were slowly being answered. "Well what happened? Why didn't we reunite like we were suppose to do?"

"I'm getting to that Rogue," said Andre. "Shortly after our father's death our mother took you to live with one of our fathers best friend, Mystique. You were given to her and she was told every thing. She was told about the puppets, Vonce, Suetek, everything, but she was not told about the formula. Even though she was a friend of the family, our grandfather didn't trust her with the formula, or the puppets. He was afraid she would abuse the magic for her own advantages."

"And she was suppose to tell me about mah past," Rogue asked.

"Yes," said Andre. "She was given specific instructions to tell you everything as soon as you turned five. Around the time of your fifth birthday the spirit of our grandfather came looking for you and Mystique, but she had left her old home and took you with her. Toulon spent years looking for you, but he couldn't find you."

Rogue began to fill up with anger. She knew Mystique had lied to her before, but now that she knew her old foster mother was suppose to tell her about her past made the young Goth feel so much rage, but she held it back for the sack of Andre. "So what happened with you and our mother," she asked trying to hold back her rage.

Andre said, "our mother took the puppets and me to close friends of hers called Henry and Joan Anderson. She did the same thing that she did with Mystique, she told them everything and left the Puppets there with me. However she didn't tell them the formula as well, hell she didn't even know the formula really She didn't even make it out of town after that. Vonce found her, and like our father, he killed her without mercy."

It was then that Rogue began to cry. Now she knew both her parents were gone. She couldn't help, but let the tears fall. Andre put his arm around her shoulder and tried to comfort her. Rogue took a few deep breaths and asked, "wh-why was she killed? If she didn't now the magic behind the puppets then what was the point in killing her?"

"Because Vonce didn't care if she knew anything," said Andre. "As far as he was concerned our mother was family to Andre Toulon the first, and that meant she had to die. I know it doesn't seem fair, but that's the way Vonce saw it."

Rogue whipped away her tears, but they were only replaced with more. Young Andre did his best to comfort her. This news must have been devastating for her. 

The puppets moved next to her and their master. They tried to help Andre in consoling her.

Andre took her arm off of Rogue when he heard a sound coming from the other side of the door. The boys stood up and grabbed his cane. He walked over to the door and put his ear against it. Then he quickly opened the door and slammed it shut again.

Rogue and the puppets heard two short yelps of both shock and pain. Andre opened the door again and saw Kitty, and Kurt kneeling near the door with their hands on their head where the door had hit them.

"Get in here," Andre said angrily. 

The two mutants entered the room. Andre slammed the door angrily and said, "what the hell were you two doing? Were you listening to what I was telling Rogue?"

The two mutants stood quietly. The Puppets left Rogue's side and stood in front of the two waiting for an explanation.

"Well, yeah," said Kitty in a shaky voice.

Rogue stood up and said, "why were you listening? Can't any body in this institute give me a little privacy. This was very personal." Her voice was hard and furious. 

"I'm sorry Rogue," said Kurt, "but after we fund out that Andre here was your brother we had to know what was going on. You're my sister too Rogue. I just wanted to make sure that you would be alright after hearing what Andre told you."

"What do you mean by 'you're my sister too," asked Andre.

Rogue looked at him and said, "he was Misteak's son. Ah'm his adopted sister."

Andre nodded and stepped closer to the two mutants. Rogue did as well and saw that Kitty was crying. "What's wrong with you," she asked the prep. 

Kitty whipped her tears and said, "it's just that, I like, heard what Andre said happened to your parents. It sounded so terrible."

Rogue tried to hold back her tears with no success. Hot tears ran down her face as she said, "Ah know. Ah just can't believe it."

She put her face in her hands and sat back on her bed. Andre stepped over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Kurt did the same.

Andre looked over at Kurt and said, "you care about her don't you?" Kurt nodded. 

Andre looked at Kitty and then back at Kurt. "Ok you two sit on the bed over there if you want to."

Rogue looked up at him. "You're letting them stay?"

"Yes," said Andre, "there is know point in hiding this from them now. But if you want them to leave then I will tell them to."

Rogue shook her head and said, "no. You're right. There's no point in having them leave since they know everything now."

The young Goth didn't want to admit it, but she felt more comfortable having Kurt and kitty there with her.

"I guess I'll start answering any other questions that you have," Andre said as he sat back into the chair.

"There's no point," said Rogue, "you already answered them all. Ah only have one more. Where were you all these years? Ah mean Ah know that Misteak took me away, but still you have been looking for me all this time, and why didn't your foster parents help you?"

Once again Andre's face turned to sadness. "Because they're gone," he said. "When I was five they told me every thing about my past. I thought that soon we would all look for you, but when I turned six Vonce found me. The Andersons did their best to protect me, but they paid with their own lives. They were dragged out of the house and burned alive."

He put his face in his hands, but did not cry. Rogue moved a little closer to him and said, "Vonce killed them too?" Andre nodded. "Ah'm sorry," Rogue said sympathetically. 

Andre continued. "The puppets and the spirit of Toulon tried to save them, but they did not succeed. While my foster parents were dying they had no choice but to get me and take me away. 

I spent a good deal of my life hiding. Our grandfather's spirit had to teach me the magic and how to care for the puppets when I was very young. They stole a cane for me and taught me how to walk with it. It was a difficult life.

I didn't start searching for you until I was ten. That was around the same time that my mutant abilities started to evolve. After many years I was finally led here to Bayeville where I finally found you."

He stood up and walked over to the window. "The Hanzain cult and Suetek are still looking for me, and you too. But now that I found you, I can teach you the magic, and maybe we will be able to protect ourselves from them," he turned back to Rogue. "But I am not worried about that right now. I have finally found you, and I am very happy that my search for my sister is finally over."

Rogue was silent, as were Kitty and Kurt. She was stunned by all this information. She looked down at the puppets and back at Andre. "So, you and the puppets are mah family?" Andre nodded. 

Roue couldn't hold back any more. She walked right over and unexpectedly hugged the young Puppet Master. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She didn't care if Kurt and Kitty saw her. She had finally found her family.

*************************************************************

Within the city of Bayeville a homeless man walked through the streets. He had spent most of the day picking up cans and paper to trade in for some money. He headed into the small ally that he called his home.

The homeless man stopped at the entrance of the ally. Deep in the darkness he could see the outline of a small creature. He walked closer to it.

The creature stood facing a wall and was holding his hands out in front of him. It looked like it was in deep concentration.

In a few minutes a volt of light came out of it's fingers opening the gate to Suetek's prison deep below the Earth. 

The homeless beggar watched as two other creatures that looked just like the first came out of the gate. The gate closed and the three creatures faced the beggar.

"What the hell are you," he asked in an old shaky voice.

The creatures said nothing. They just let out their screeching roar and lunged at the man. They were soon upon him.

Two of the creatures grabbed the man's feet and made him fall backwards. The third leapt onto his face and began to claw at his flesh.

The man screamed in agony, but no body came to help him. His face was scratched to a bloody mess and then he was silent. 

The creature stood on the man's chest and put both of it's hands on the side of the man's head. The creature began to glow a golden color.

The homeless man's life force began to leave his body in the form of a mist.

Suetek watched in his prison below the Earth. "Yes," he said, "take his energy. Steal his life force and bring it down to us."

The creature did as he was told. In no time all of the man's energy was gone and sent down to Suetek. "Good," the demon said, "now you must get the two grand children of Andre Toulon. You may kill all the others around them, but the two children must be destroyed. Be very cautious, the puppets of the old master are with the boy. You must kill them as well."

All three of the creatures nodded and head out of the ally, leaving the corps of a poor beggar behind them.

*************************************************************

Kitty, Kurt and Rogue sat in the bedroom with the Puppet Master. Even though Rogue's past was now some what known she still had questions for her brother. She wanted to know more about him, as did Kitty and Kurt.

"So how did you find out Ah was in Bayeville," Rogue asked sitting beside the Puppet called Blade. 

"That was just a stroke of luck on our grandfathers part," the boy said, "he had been searching for you when I slept every now and the. Of course I didn't really sleep much, but whenever I did he would look for you. One day as his specter was going around he saw a news report about mutants in Bayeville. Since he knew you were a mutant he figure it wouldn't hurt to check this place out."

"Aren't you a mutant too," asked Kurt. 

"Yes," said Andre. He looked down at the puppet called Jester and began to gently stroke his head.

"So, what's your mutant ability," asked Kitty.

Andre sighed. "You really don't want to know."

"Yeah, we do," Rogue said. She wanted to know her brother's powers ever since he arrived.

Andre sat down and said, "I can see peoples fears."

Kitty leaned forward and said, "so you can read minds."

"No," said Andre, "I can only see what a person is afraid of. I can see what happened to them that caused their fear And I can also show them their fear."

"Show them," asked Rogue. "You mean you could make some on believe that what their afraid of is right in front of them?"

"It's more than that," said Andre, "the things I show people can be very realistic. Even other people can see what I'm showing one person. I can also show other people someone else's fear."

"Wow," said Kitty, "that sound so cool."

Andre turned to the young prep. "Do you think your fear of snakes is cool Kitty," he asked.

He held out his arm and then the form of a snake came slithering out of his sleeve. It looked directly at Kitty.

The girl leaned backward in terror. She said in a voice full of fear, "no it's not cool."

Andre made the snake disappear and said, "somebody's fear is never cool Kitty. Kurt's fear of sharp objects isn't funny and neither is Rogue's fear of blood." 

Both Rogue and Kurt stood up with a look of shock. They both said in unison, "how did you know that?"

Kitty looked at them. "Rogue, you're afraid of blood?"

Rogue tried to think of an answer that would lead Kitty away from the truth, but she couldn't think of one. She then gave up and said, "yes. Ah don't know what it is about it. Ah just can't stand the look of blood," she looked over at Andre angrily, "why did you have to tell them that?"

"There is no point in hiding your phobia Rogue," he said.

Kitty giggled and said, "I thought Goths didn't mind blood."

Andre said, "never make fun of a persons fear Kitty. They always have a reason to be afraid even if they don't know the reason themselves."

Kurt nodded in agreement. Kitty stopped laughing and sat back on her bed. Kurt looked back at Andre. "What about you, what are you afraid of?"

Andre said, "I think it should be obvious to you. I'm afraid of Vonce."

"Well, I can understand that," said Kitty.

There was a knock at the door. Rogue walked over and opened it. The Professor wheeled himself in followed by Ororo.

"Have you two cleared everything that you needed to," Charles asked Rogue and Andre.

"What," asked Rogue. She wondered if the Professor and Ororo were listening to the conversation between her brother and her like Kitty and Kurt were.

Ororo answered the question. "Hank told us you went up here with Andre to discuss a few things."

Rogue paused and said, "yeah. Andre is mah brother, and he was able to tell me about mah parents."

"Very good," said Charles. He turned to her newfound brother. "Andre your room has been set up just down the hall. You may go there when you wish."

It was now Andre's turn to question. "What do you mean my room has been set up? I'm not staying here tonight am I? I never stay anywhere, or have someone do me a favor unless I can repay the person who has shown me hospitality. I have nothing to repay you with."

Andre was a person with curtain values and it was very difficult to be persuaded him to go against them.

"It's no problem Andre," said Ororo. "It is our pleasure to have you here with us."

"I won't stay if I can't pay you back," the boy said.

Rogue thought for a while and said, "Andre Ah have an idea. Tomorrow we have a Danger Room lesson scheduled. You can pay the Professor back by joining us and showing him what he can do. And the puppets can join as well."

Andre looked at her and back at the Professor. "If I do this, will that be enough to pay you back for staying here?"

Xavier nodded. "Yes, of course Andre."

"Alright I'll stay," he said. Xavier nodded happily and left the room with Ororo. Andre turned back to Rogue and said, "I'll be leaving the puppets with you tonight. You need to get acquainted with them."

Rogue smiled and said, "ok."

The puppet called Blade watched, as Andre was about to leave the room. He looked out the window and saw five dark figures at the gate of the institute. He gave an alarmed gasp and jumped off of Rogue's bed. The other six puppets followed him out the door.

Rogue called after them; "hey where are you guys going?"

Andre said, "relax. They'll probably be doing stuff like this all day. They're very protective of us."

Andre opened the door with his cane and was about to leave. Before he could Rogue said, "Andre Ah just have one more question. Do Ah have a real name or is it just Rogue?"

Andre looked at her and said, "because of all the chaos they were going through our parents never thought to name us. I chose to be named after our grandfather when I turned five," and he left the room.

*************************************************************

Outside the gates of the Xavier Institute Vonce stood with four of his followers. Even in the daylight their faces could not be seen under their hoods. 

Vonce turned to the sign and read it out loud. "The Xavier Institute For Gifted Youngsters." He laughed and said, "a very good school for those pathetic mutants."

He reached out his hand and felt the bars of the gate. "I can sense young Toulon. He is here in this institute."

One of his followers stepped forward. "What do we do from here sir," he asked.

Vonce pushed the gate. It had been fixed since Andre had Decapitron short circuit the control pad. The cloaked man stepped back. He took out a small vial of a strange red substance out of his cloak.

He pored some of it on the gate and said a few words in a strange tongue. The liquid began to glow a flaming red and Vonce was then able to push the gate open.

He went through the gate followed by his followers. When inside he said, "we will wait until the cover of darkness. Then we will make our attack on the students. We will take five of them, one by one. With them as hostages the two grand children of Toulon will have to except our demands.

The three cloaked figures hid out of view. Inside the institute Blade looked out of the window. He saw nothing. He jumped down next to the other puppets. They knew that Blade had seen something and they were ready for what ever was going to happen.


	7. Kidnappings

Kidnapped

Rogue lay awake in bed. She couldn't fall asleep. She kept on thinking the same words over and over. 'Ah have a brother.'

The words soothed her mind. Ever since she moved into the Institute she never thought that she would find her real family. She did really know if she wanted to find them.

But now she knew that she had parents that really cared about her. If only she had known them.

Rogue turned in her bed. She had wondered why the puppets had not returned to her room yet. She assumed they were just learning to find their way around the institute. 

The Goth decided that she couldn't get to sleep tonight. Too much was spinning around in her head. She got out of bed and put on her usual Gothic attire. She figured a long walk would help her get tired.

As she headed down the hall she passed by Andre's room. She looked in and saw her brother standing in front of the window. He was looking out at the lawn of the institute. 

Rogue walked into his room. "Why are you still awake," she asked quietly so she wouldn't wake the other X-Men.

Andre never took his eyes away from the window when he spoke. "I don't sleep much. I'm lucky if I can get at least two hours of sleep any night."

Rogue asked, "do you have insomnia or something?"

"I guess you could say that," he answered. "I can never fall asleep. I've been wondering if I should take something for it, but I don't think that's the proper way to fix things."

He turned to his pale sister. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Ah'm just not tired for some reason," she said, "Ah was just going for a walk."

"Do you mind if I come," the boy asked.

Rogue smiled and said, "sure, why not."

*************************************************************

When the clock struck eleven Vonce and his four followers made their way into the institute. They slipped quietly through the front door and surveyed their surroundings. 

One of the cloaked men asked, "sir, how are we going to capture these mutants. Their powers could make our hunt difficult."

Vonce laughed and took out five vials of a green powder. "This will help us in our hunt. It is a special powder that will render a mutant's abilities helpless. The only way to get their powers back is the antidote, which is back at the temple. All you have to do his have any mutant breath this in and their powers will be useless."

He handed each one of his men a vial and kept one for himself. They headed their separate ways into the darkened halls of the Institute. 

Blade and the other puppets were watching the whole thing. They came out of their hiding places and split up following the five members of the Hanzain cult. 

*************************************************************

Kitty slept soundly. Her body was limp and looked very comforted in the darkness around her. The blankets outlined the parts of her body that were under it.

The door to her room slowly opened as she slept and in came one of Vonce's men. He stood in front of her bed holding the vial in one hand. He watched the girl's stomach move up and down as she breathed. 

The cloaked man wanted so much to jamb a knife in her gut right now. To the members of the Hanzain cult death was a thing of beauty. They were always tempted to kill any one who was not a member of their cult, but this man remembered his orders from Vonce. 

The man reached into his cloak and pulled out a rope and a sack with his free hand. He put them down on the floor and took the cork out of the vial.

Kitty stirred in her sleep. The cloaked man had left the door open and a cold draft was now blowing through. The girl woke up and saw the dark figure standing in front of her bed.

Her eyes turned wide and she leapt out of her covers and onto the floor. "Who are you," she demanded. Her voice wasn't very demanding, it was more afraid.

The man took out a large curved knife from his cloak and said, "just cooperate child and you will feel no pain."

Kitty prepared to phase through the floor. The man tried to through the powder at her, but before he could he was pulled off balance by small hands. 

The vial flew out of his grip and smashed right in front of Kitty. The powder filled the air around her and she began to gasp and choke as it went into her lungs.

The man turned his head and saw Pinhead and Jester standing next to him. Pinhead ran up to the man and grabbed his neck with his vise-gripped hands. 

The green dust around Kitty cleared up and she could breath normally again. She saw Pinhead on the man's neck with Jester cheering him with light grunts, hisses, and giggles.

The man grabbed Pinhead and ripped him off his neck. He through the large puppet at Jester, knocking both of them down. They slammed hard against the wall and laid on the ground unconscious. 

The man stood back up and faced Kitty. She ran for the wall and was ready to walk through it, but instead she just hit the wall face first. 

She put her hands on her injured nose. Her powers were not working. She looked back at the cloaked man.

He laughed at her and said, "your powers are useless now. They will remain inactive for as long as we wish."

Kitty didn't know what to do. She didn't even know who this guy was or why he was after her. "Why are you doing this," she asked almost in tears.

"It is nothing personal girl," the man said, "we just need you as bait for the two Puppet Masters."

Kitty's eyes turned to shock, "Andre, and Rogue," she said without thinking.

The cloaked man picked up the lamp that stood on Kitty's dresser. He ran at her and swung it directly at her head.

Kitty let out a scream, but it was cut short by the blow to her head. She was knocked out instantly. She fell almost lifeless to the floor, but she was still alive.

The man dropped the lamp and picked up the rope and the sack. He held Kitty's hands together behind her back and tied them together.

He then took the sack and put it over her head. It covered everything from the waist up, only her legs and some of her short pink pajama bottoms could be seen. 

The reason for the sack was so she wouldn't see anything as she was taken to the Hanzain Cult's layer. This way if she escaped in the temple she wouldn't know where to go.

All of the Hanzain cult members would blind their victims before taking them to their temple.

The cloaked man picked up Kitty in the sack and took her out the door. Her bare legs dragged behind her as the man walked. 

As they went down the hall Kitty regained consciousness. She saw nothing but blackness around her and she began to panic.

Outside of the sack her legs began to kick wildly to try and free her from the grip of the man, but her captor's grip was too strong. 

Kitty began to scream, wondering why no one heard her cries for help.

*************************************************************

Charles heard a knock at his bedroom door. He quickly slipped out of bed and into his wheel chair. When he opened the door he saw Logan standing in front of him.

Logan didn't wait for the Professor to question him. "Chuck, I heard Kitty screaming just a few minutes ago. When I went to check in her room she was gone. Rogue and that Andre kid are missing to."

Xavier's face turned to worry, "wake the other X-Men quickly."

*************************************************************

Jean found sleeping in the infirmary difficult that night. She kept on thinking that something was wrong. Hank had left her alone and said he would be back in few minutes, but he had been gone for a long time now.

Her body began to shake as she felt a cooled draft enter the room. The door to the infirmary opened and there stood Hank, but he stood rather strangely. His eyes were closed and he looked limp.

Jean sat up in her bed and asked, "are you ok Mr. McKoy?"

Hank then was pushed forward with a syringe sticking out the back of his neck. As he fell a man in a black hooded cloak came into the room.

He faced Jean as she got out of her bed. She was still a little weak from her attack.

She used her powers to lift up a few sharp instruments and point them at the man. "What are you doing here," she asked the man demandingly.

"I have come for you," he said, "I suggest you put those instruments down, they won't be hovering for much longer."

Jean didn't obey. She let the sharp tools fly at the man. Each on hit him and went deep into his flesh, but the cloaked figure did not react to his wounds. 

He laughed evilly and said, "you think this will help you. The society, that I am in, enjoys the feeling of pain. Your attacks will have no affect on me."

He took the vial out of his cloak and threw it at Jean. It broke against the wall next to her and the green dust surrounded her. She began to cough as the dust went into her. 

The Man then walked up to her and grabbed her by the neck. He put his hidden face right up to hers and said, "do not fight me. There is no hope for you now."

Jean tried to scream for help, but the man held her neck so tightly that she couldn't even breathe. In no time she passed out from the lack of air. She was lucky she was not killed.

The cloaked man ripped off a peace of his cloak rapped it around the girl's face. He then took out some rope and tied her hands. 

He dragged Jean out of the infirmary passed the unconscious Hank. Jean remained out like a light as she was taken back upstairs.

*************************************************************

Rogue and Andre walked down the street side by side. Rogue kept asking the boy questions about him, their parents, and even about the puppets.

Andre did his best to answer all of her questions. He couldn't help but feel amused with his sister's behavior. All the questions she asked made her seem like a curious child.

When Rogue's questions halted for a few seconds Andre asked, "do you know what time it is?"

Rogue said, "Ah don't know. No watch." She held up her hands to show that her wrists were bare under her black gloves.

Andre looked back towards the institute and said, "may be we should be getting back now." He looked back at his sister.

Rogue gave a look of concern. "Are you afraid that the Hanzain Cult might find us out here," she asked.

"No," said Andre, "I just have this strange feeling. It's almost like I can't explain it. I just feel like may be we should get back, like there's something wrong."

Rogue looked towards the institute and back at Andre. He looked really worried. "Well may be it's just a feeling," she said.

Just as she said that she was contacted by the Professor in her head. She heard him call, "Rogue? Rogue are there? Are conscious?"

The voice was loud in her head and she couldn't help, but cover her ears. She said in her mind, "don't yell so loud. Why are yelling like that?"

"Oh, thank God," Charles said in the young Goth's mind. "I'm sorry Rogue. It's just that Kitty and Jean have disappeared. We found Hank out cold in the infirmary and Kitty was not in her bed. When we saw that you and Andre were not in your beds we thought that you had been kidnapped."

Rogue said in her head, "well, Andre's with me. We just went for a walk because we couldn't sleep. Kitty was still in bed when we left."

Charles voice paused for a long time. He finally said, "Rogue I want you and Andre back here right now. We need to find Kitty and Jean immediately," and he left her thoughts.

Andre stood starring at her. "What was that all about," he asked.

"The Professor jut contacted me," she said. "He said Kitty and Jean are missing and that"

Before she could finish Andre's eyes turned wide and he began running back to the institute as best he could. His cane clacked against he ground as he ran.

Rogue yelled, "Andre, wait," and followed her brother. She hoped that the creature that attacked Jean wasn't the cause for this.

*************************************************************

Back at the Institute Scott and Kurt were searching for the two girls. They were very worried. It was rare for a student to disappear in the institute unless there was something really wrong.

"Man," said Kurt, "we've looked every where for those two. Where could they be?"

They heard a grunt from behind them. When they turned around they saw the puppets Torch and Tunneler. They looked at the two puppets curiously.

Scott asked, "are you guys looking for Jean and Kitty too?"

They both nodded. Both Scott and Kurt smiled at the puppets. May be with their help they could find Kitty and Jean easier. 

All four of them began searching again. When they turned a corner came face to face with one of Vonce's followers.

"Well, well, well," he said. "Looks like my victims have come to me."

Scott readied his hands on his glasses. "Who are you," he demanded.

"You know how many times we've been asked that question tonight," the man said.

Kurt and Scott prepared to attack, but before they could the man took a communicator out of his cloak and said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. My comrades have four blades against the necks of your female friends outside. All they have to do is hear me yell into this communicator and your friends are dead."

The man held the communicator right up to his hidden face, ready to give his companions any sign that he was in trouble. 

Scott and Kurt backed down. "What do you want with our friends any way," Kurt yelled. 

"It is not them we want," said the man. "What we want are the secrets of the renowned Puppet Master Toulon."

The man then heard the sound of a drill from his side. Tunneler ran up to him and stuck his drill right into the man's right leg. The man fell to the ground loosing his grip on the communicator. 

Scott lifted the man off the ground and pinned him against the wall. He held his hand up to his glasses and said, "if you so much as move you're gonna get some of this." He took his glasses off and blasted some of the wall next to the man's face. 

Scott slipped his glasses back on as Tunneler and Torch stood next to Kurt. Kurt looked down at the puppets and said, "good job Tunneler."

Scott kept his grip tight on the man's cloak. "Go get Logan," he said to Kurt. 

The elf nodded and *bamfed* out of sight. All that remained was the smell of sulfur in the air and a little smoke.

The man in Scott's grip began to laugh. "Do you really think any one can save you now," he asked.

"Save me," Scott questioned, "you're the one who was captured by me."

"Oh no, no, no," said the man confidently. "I was just waiting for you to get close enough so I could do this." 

With those words he put his hand, full of the green powder up to his face and blew it into Scott's. 

Scott backed away as he breathed in the dust. The cloaked man came at him with his fist ready, but he was stopped by a sudden grunt. When he looked down he saw Torch with his flame-thrower ready. 

The puppet let out a blast of fire directly at the man. He dodged the flames and was then hit by a punch from Scott.

The cloaked figure fell to the ground and looked up at the mutant facing him. Scott took of his glass; ready to blast his enemy, but nothing happened.

Scott stood in bewilderment. He felt over his eyes wondering why his powers were not working. Then he remembered the green dust that the man had blown at him. It must have stopped his power.

The man laughed and began to stand up. Tunneler started up his drill and ran at the cult member.

The man saw this happening and reached out his hand, grabbing Tunneler with extremely quick reflexes. 

Tunneler struggled to release himself, but the man threw him right into the wall. 

Scott watched the little puppet fall immobile to the floor. He looked back at the cloaked man. 

Torch gave an angry grunt and aimed his flame-thrower at the one who injured his companion. The man looked at Torch and then grabbed hold of Scott.

He pulled the boy in front of him and slipped a large curved knife out of his cloak. Before Scott could do anything he had the blade up to his neck.

The cloaked man said to Torch, "stand down or your friend dies."

Torch hesitated for a moment and let his flame-thrower hand drop by his side. The man walked over to a hall closet with Scott still in his grasp and opened the door quickly. "Now get in here," he said.

Torch got into the closet grunting angrily. The man closed the door, trapping the puppet.

The man then said to Scott, "now you will come with me. No more fighting no more resisting, you just come with me now and you will feel no pain."

Scott didn't have much of a choice. His powers weren't working and he had a knife up to his throat. 

The man began to drag him away as Torch started banging against the closet door trying to get out.

*************************************************************

Rogue and Andre ran into the institute. It seemed very quiet even though every one was looking for Jean and Kitty.

"I'm picking up a really bad vive right now," said Andre.

Rogue nodded and said, "so am Ah."

They walked slowly to the staircase. Rogue helped Andre as they went up the stairs. The boy stumbled a few times before they got to the top.

They walked through the halls. Rogue took her gloves off of her hands just incase she needed to attack. 

As they walked they heard a knocking sound coming from behind a corner. They ran to the sound. 

When they passed the corner they saw Pinhead banging his fists against a closet door. Next to him stood Blade and was trying to wedge his knife into the crack of the door. Behind them stood Jester and Tunneler waiting for the closet to open.

Andre and Rogue walked over to the puppets. "What's going on here," asked Rogue.

Blade just pointed to the closet. Andre opened it and inside stood Torch. He walked out of the closet and stood next to Blade. 

"What the hell were you doing in there," asked Andre.

Blade grunted and hissed a little, but he knew his masters would not be able to understand him. He walked over to the wall and used his knife to carve into it. Andre watched as he carved a large V into the wood. 

Rogue looked at it. "V, what does that mean?"

Andre's eyes widened as he said, "Vonce."

Blade and the other puppets nodded. Andre began to panic. Vonce was a man who showed no mercy. He felt no pity, or fear. He enjoyed pain and making others experience agony. If he was here in the institute he would defiantly harm the X-Men.

He began to yell, "holy crap! Holy crap! Holy carp! We are so screwed."

"Why," asked Rogue, "the X-Men will be able to handle Vonce."

"No they cant'" said Andre, "his men and he enjoy pain. There's something about that makes them extremely fast, have quick reflexes, and they're stronger than normal humans."

Rogue became nervous. "Why would they want to hurt the X-Men?"

"They don't care who they hurt, but they're probably here on the count of us," said Andre.

Rogue looked down at the puppets and immediately understood. "We gotta find the X-Men now."

Andre ordered his puppets to follow him. They began to run down the halls leaving Rogue behind. "Where are you going," she called after them.

Andre called back, "I have to find the other puppets." His words trailed off through the hall.

Rogue stood alone. She walked in the other direction with her gloves still off her hands. She was ready to attack any one that crossed her path.

*************************************************************

Rogue ran down the stairs. "Where the hell are the others," she asked herself. 

She began to call for them. "Logan! Scott! Kitty! Can any one hear me?!" 

She heard a noise coming from the meeting room. It sounded like a strange pounding sound. Like the sound a of a fist hitting a pillow.

The Goth slowly followed the sound. She wanted to be ready for anything. Her heart pounded in her chest as she walked.

When she entered the meeting room she saw two dark figure standing in the far corner. The sound was coming from there, but it was join by painful gasps.

Rogue watched as two cloaked figures looked towards her. She knew who they were right away.

Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. One of the men was holding something. When she could finally make it out she gasped.

It was Kurt. One of the men was holding him up and the other was punching him. Rogue observed the gruesome seen.

Kurt's eyelids were swollen shut. His blue fur on his face was covered in blood. The red liquid dripped onto the floor and next to an empty glass vile.

One of the cloaked men walked towards her holding a knife in one hand. "Who's there," Kurt asked. He sounded like a scared child.

Rogue said in a very shaky voice, "it's me Kurt. It's Rogue."

The man that was walking towards her stopped. He spoke. "Ah so you are the sister of Andre Toulon. The grand daughter of the famous Puppet Master. So I see that your brother has finally found you. I take it you know who I am."

Rogue breathed heavily and gave the man an angry look. "You're Vonce? Ah thought you'd look a little tougher than this."

"Rogue get out of here," Kurt screamed.

Vonce looked at him. He walked right over to the blue mutant and punched him dead in the mouth. "Do not talk again, or I'll close your mouth permanently."

Kurt fell limp in the other man's arms. He had never been hit that much before.

"Kurt," said Rogue, "why won't you just teleport out of here?"

"Because he can't," said Vonce, "not after what we did to him."

"Rogue became more angry and said, "what did you do?"

They both heard an angry voice say, "yes, do tell."

When they looked in the direction of the voice they saw Logan leap into the room with his claws extended. Storm, Beast and Xavier followed close behind.

They all looked at Kurt and saw his wounds. Storm said, "let him go now."

Vonce said back, "you are in no position to ask for anything. If one of you takes one step closer your friend will be killed."

He snapped his fingers and the man that accompanied him held a knife up to Kurt's neck. The X-Men froze where they stood. They didn't want anything to happen to Kurt, or the other X-Men that were captured.

"What do you want with my students," Xavier asked. He sounded very angry, the angriest then any of the X-Men have seen him before.

Vonce said, "I don't want these students. What I want is the Puppet Masters. The girl and the boy. He turned to Rogue and asked, "where is your brother anyway?"

Rogue didn't say anything. Andre then came into the room saying, "I'm right here Vonce."

Vonce looked over to the boy who then said, "what do you want with these kids?"

Vonce laughed and said, "it's nothing personal. We just needed the right motivation for you and your sister."

Andre looked confused. Vonce then said, "we're going to play a little game. You and the girl will try your best to rescue your friends. If you fail we will take the puppets and learnt the secrets of your grandfather. We will be taking the mutants to our temple; the location of it and how you will find it is your own problem. Do you except the challenge?"

Andre paused for a while and then said, "I will if Rogue excepts as well."

Rogue said immediately, "it's not like we have much of a choice, so Ah except."

Vonce said, "very good. There is just one problem. I was hoping to get five mutants while I was here. So one of you will be coming with us as well."

Vonce then quickly took his vial of powder out of his cloak. He pulled the cork out and three the green dust at Logan. The dust spilt into his lungs as her gasped and choked.

The X-Men did not have time to help their friend. Vonce Quickly grabbed hold of Logan and slid his knife across the gruff man's eyes.

For the first time in their lives the X-Men heard Logan scream in agony. Rogue wanted to run over and choke the life out of Vonce, but she stopped when the cloaked man held his knife up to Logan's neck.

Vonce said, "the green dust will render your friends' powers useless until we give them the antidote. We will give this man the antidote so his wounds will heal, but then he will loose his gift again."

Rogue yelled, "how did you know his powers healed him?"

"We observed all of you," he said. And then both the men ran out of the room dragging their captives with them.

When they left the room Beats was prepared to chase them down, but Andre stopped him. The boy said, "wait Hank, they won't get far."

*************************************************************

Vonce and the other cloaked man dragged the two mutants towards the hall. They stopped for a few seconds when they came to the front door. Vonce said, "we must hurry the other mutants will be close behind us."

Before they could move again the second cloaked man fell onto the floor loosing his grip on Kurt. Vonce looked down on the floor as the puppet called Pinhead was holding the man's feet.

Soon the other six puppets came out from hiding. Jester and Six-shooter grabbed the man's hands and stretched him out across the floor. 

Torch, Tunneler, Decapitron and Blade stood in front of Vonce. The cloaked leader of the Hanzain cult said, "you want to fight me. You will not win."

Before the puppets could make an attack they heard a screeching roar near by. The Totems were in the institute. They faced the puppets as if they were ready to fight. 

The four puppets the were not holding the other cloaked man took their attention off of Vonce. 

It was then that he grabbed hold of Kurt's shirt and dragged both him and Logan out the door. 

None of the puppets went after them. Now that the Totems were in the institute they thought it best to take them out first.

These little monsters, thou small, were very dangerous. The puppets had had a few encounters with these small creatures before, and right now they considered them to be a greater threat than Vonce.

The three puppets that were holding the cult member down continued to do so. The other four began to circle the creatures.

One Totem leapt towards Blade. It grabbed his knife and hook hands. Blade struggled to free his weapons, but the creature did not let go. They began to push and pull each other around, trying to dominate the other.

Torch and Decapitron saw this. The started to run over to their friend, but the second Totem stood in their way. These creatures were not only good killers, but they also could perform acts of magic. 

The Totem raised his hand and both Torch, and Decapitron began to float up in the air. The Totem began to twirl his clawed finger around and the two puppets began to spin around in the air.

The third Totem pinned Tunneler against the wall. Tunneler started up his drill and swung his head back and forth trying to hit his attacker. 

It looked as if the puppets were going to fail. The Totems had them right where they wanted them. They Puppets feared that they might not win this battle.

Within a few minutes, The remaining X-Men and the young Puppet Master came into the room. They saw the small battle right in front of them. 

Rogue screamed out, "let them go you little bastards!"

All the Totems looked over at the X-Men. Torch and Decapitron fell to the floor as the Totem took his attention away from them.

Rogue stepped forward in a fighting stance accompanied by Beast. The large furry man snarled and said, "let them go."

The creatures then ran. Rogue and Beast chased after them. They stopped when the saw the little monsters fade right through the wall. 

Andre walked forward to check on his puppets. As he did Rogue asked, "what are we gonna do now?"

Xavier sighed and said, "I don't know. I don't know any thing about this Hanzain cult and now that the students that they have capture had their powers deactivated I won't be able to find them with suriebro."

Andre stood up after checking his Puppets and said, "Vonce won't have them killed yet. He wants Rogue and me to die first before they kill your friends, but he probably will torture them for sure."

Rogue felt her heart sink. She couldn't bear to even think of her friends getting tortured.

Andre then heard the sound of struggling. He looked and saw his other three puppets holding down the cult member that they captured.

"Well, look what we have here," he said as he walked over to the restrained man.

Ororo stepped towards the man and asked, "they caught him?

"Never underestimate my puppets," Andre said with a smile. "All right guys let him up, and Torch, if he tries to run, fry his ass."

The puppets released the cloaked man and he stood up. His knife was in his hands, but he didn't attack. 

Andre looked the man dead in his hidden eyes and asked, "where is Vonce taking the other mutants?"

The man held up his knife, ready to kill the boy. Before he could Rogue stood next to her brother with her gloves off and said, "if you lay a hand on him Ah'll drain the life out of you!"

The man looked at her and then to the other mutants. Hank said, "we will protect the boy as well. I you're smart you will tell us where your leader is taking our friends."

The man stood silently. He looked down and saw the puppets stand in front of the master and his sister. He knew he couldn't fight all of them alone. 

The man yelled out, "I'LL SEE YOU ALL IN HELL!" and he stabbed himself in the heart with his knife. He fell dead to the floor.

The X-Men looked at the body with open mouths. Rogue's blood ran cold. She had never before seen someone kill them selves, and she hoped she never would, but now that she saw it, she felt afraid.

Andre shook his head and said, come on we need to find out what we're gonna do."

Ororo starred at the body and said, "could you please just give us a few minutes. We never have seen this before."

Andre said, "I know it's difficult to see, but in not time at all, Vonce will be at his lair and he will torture your friends without mercy. We need to find them as soon as possible."

Then he left followed by his puppets. The X-men looked at the body a little while longer and then shook the feeling of fear off. They would deal with this body later; right now they had to figure out how they would save their comrades. 


	8. The Hanzain Witch

Auther notes: thank you all for the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

***********************************************************************

The Hanzain Witch

Kurt felt around his new surroundings. It felt like rock and cold steal. The swelling in his eyelids went down so he could finally open them.

When he did he saw that he was in some sort of cell. He looked around and saw Kitty, Jean and Scott up against the wall. They were all still in their pajamas and out cold. A few feet away Logan sat. He was the only one of them that was chained. Kurt could see the blood dripping from his closed eyes.

He had no idea where they all were. It was so dark, damp, and uncomfortable. The air around them felt so could and reeked of rotting flesh.

Kurt could hear footsteps coming towards them. In no time their cell door opened and in walked Vonce followed by one of his followers called Hennin. 

"Ah," said Vonce, "I see at least on of you has woken."

Kurt said nothing. He just gave the cloaked man a look of anger. The furry mutant hated not being able to see the man's face. He wanted so much to know the face of his enemy.

The other imprisoned X-Men stirred and woke up. Logan began to open his eyes, but stopped when he felt the immense pain of his cut eyes.

Vonce looked at him and held up a small syringe in his hand. "This hear is the antidote," he said, "I will give you back your powers for only a moment, and you better not try anything funny."

Logan just growled at him. Vonce stuck the needle in the only place where the antidote would take affect. Right where the eyelids connected near the nose.

When the fluid was injected into Logan, his eyes healed instantly. He then swung one of his legs around and kicked Vonce down. The other chains held the mutant in place as he struggled to free himself.

Hennin took out a hand full of the green powder and blew it right into Logan's face. Once again his powers were immediately deactivated. 

Logan let his claws out of his hands even though they wouldn't heal. He tried to cut his chains, but Vonce stood up and kicked him right in the gut.

Hennin looked into Logan's eyes and said, "you dare not do that."

"Why not," Logan asked angrily.

Vonce said, "because if you do you will watch as your friends suffer."

Then the cloaked man took a long whip out of his cloak. He looked over at Kitty and Jean and said to Hennin, "stand them up."

Hennin did as he was told. He forced the two girls to stand. He chained them both to the wall. Scott Kurt watched as Vonce cracked the whip right against both the girls' stomachs. He heard Logan yell, "leave them alone you bastards!"

Vonce cracked the whip against them again and the girls both screamed in agony. 

Kurt couldn't hold back his rage he ran over to Vonce and tackled him. He then gave the man a few good punches before Hennin threw him off his master.

Vonce stood back up and kicked Kurt hard in the stomach. He said, "you'll pay for what you have done."

Scott tried to help his fuzzy friend. He ran at Vonce with his fists ready to punch.

Hennin ran in Scott's way and elbowed him in the face. He then threw the boy against the wall, knocking him out cold once again.

Vonce laughed and looked back down at Kurt who was holding his stomach. Vonce held the whip up and slashed it along Kurt's back. Kurt gave a cry of pain as Vonce whipped him again.

Jean and Kitty watched helplessly with tears in their eyes as Kurt was punished for no reason. Logan tried to get free of the chains, but it was hopeless. 

Vonce gave Kurt to more hard whips and then left the cell. Hennin took the chains off the two girls and left as well.

Jean and Kitty ran to Kurt's side. He had passed out from the pain, but he was still alive.

*************************************************************

Andre stood near the window as the other X-Men discussed what they should do. They had no idea how they were going to help their friends.

The Puppets watched the meeting. Blade passed back and for as if worried. He now believed that maybe they should have tried saving the others first before fighting the Totems and now he felt responsible for their capture.

Rogue stopped talking with the other X-Men and looked over to Andre. "Andre you know a lot about this Hanzain Cult," she said. "Don't you know where they're hiding out?"

Andre took his black hat off his head and brushed his hair back, "no. I'm sorry to say this, but I have no idea where their temple is."

Xavier asked, "are you sure? We must find the others quickly. If you could tell us anything at all about the Cult that might help us find them it would be very useful"

Andre said, "I'm aware of the situation. But I have no clue where they are hiding out."

Rogue looked down sadly and said, "this whole thing is looking pretty hopeless."

Ororo said, "now Rogue we mustn't loose hope yet. We have to find some way to locate them." 

Hank sighed and said, "if only their powers were working, we would at least have a chance of finding them."

Andre put his hat back on his head. He had one other option that would help them find the other X-Men, but it was one he did not wish to use. Sadly he had no other choice.

"I think I no a way we can find them," he said.

The other X-men looked at him willing whatever plan he had.

"I know a woman," he said. "I didn't mention her before because I don't like to turn to her very much. She used to be a member of the Hanzain Cult and she still follows many of their rituals, also she studies witchcraft. If you are willing we can go to her and hopefully she can help us."

The X-Men excluding Rogue discussed this. She walked up to her newfound brother as the others talked. "Do you think this woman will be able to help us?"

Andre shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Charles' voice was heard as every one else went silent. "It's settles," he said, "we will fined this woman and receive her help. Andre you will show us where she is. I assume she doesn't live in this town. Just allow us to get ready and meet us down stairs at the helicopter."

"Alright," said Andre, "I head down there now. I advise you though, do not wear your fancy uniforms."

He left the room leaving the X-Men to ponder his words.

*************************************************************

Rogue headed down to the X-copter. When she entered the area it was in she saw the puppets waiting near by. She walked over to them and said, "hey guys, where's Andre?"

"I'm right here," he said as he turned the corner of the copter. "I see you didn't wear your uniform like I asked you to."

"Why don't you want us to wear them any way," the Goth.

"I have my reasons," the boy said.

They stood silent for a while. Rogue couldn't believe this. She finally found out that she had a brother and the first thing they were doing together was going on a dangerous mission. She was hoping she could get to know him more and show him around Bayeville a little.

Andre began to tap his cane against the floor. Rogue turned to him and asked, "so where does this Hanzain woman live?"

Andre only said, "Mississippi."

"Really," Rogue asked in a somewhat excited voice.

"Yeah why," asked her brother. 

"Well," Rogue said, "that's where Ah used to live before Ah came here."

Andre smiled and said, "if I knew that ahead of time it would have been easier to find you."

Rogue smiled back at him and then looked over at the puppets. "Were you really looking for me ever since your foster parents were killed," she asked.

Andre leaned against the side of the X-copter and said, "well for the first few years when I was hiding from the Hanzain Cult I didn't. I wanted to find you, but I didn't have this cane here and I was to afraid to step out from my hiding place. I was only six years old. The spirit of our grand father though tit best if I helped him search when I was a little older."

Rogue closed her eyes just trying to imagine what her brother went through. Alone with a cult after you. "It must have been hard," she said. "All alone with no one to talk to."

"I wasn't alone," said Andre, "I had the puppets with me."

"Ah know that," said Rogue, "but that's not the same as talking with a real person. Ah mean don't get me wrong. In the short time that Ah've known these puppets Ah've grown found of them, but still they can't talk back."

She looked over to the puppets. They didn't seem offended by what she just said. Andre gave an amused laugh and said, "well Rogue it's true that the puppets can't talk, but sometimes it's nice just to have some one who will listen. And the puppets can do plenty of that. Besides I didn't only have them, I had the spirit of our grandfather with me."

Rogue smiled again and said, "it must be nice having a grand father who'll watch out for you even after death."

"Well, now that I have finally found you he'll be watching out for you too," said Andre.

"Ah wish I could meet him now," said Rogue, "Ah want to at least know what he looks like, since Ah'll never know what mah parents looked like."

Andre paused and said, "you want to know what our parents looked like. Well then I have something for you."

He pulled a picture out of his trench coat pocket and handed it to Rogue. When she looked at it she saw them; her parents. 

It was a picture of them on their wedding day. Her mother had on a beautiful white dress. She had long brown hair and a smile that could tame even the wildest beast. And she had Rogue's eyes. 

Next to her stood her husband, Rogue's father. He had on one of those very nice black tuxedoes. His eyes were a hazelnut brown and his hair was almost as black as his suit.

Rogue whipped away a tear of joy and held the picture up to her chest. She looked at Andre and said, "thank you."

Before either of them could talk again Charles wheeled himself into the room followed by Hank and Ororo. Andre looked to them and said, "good you didn't get into your uniforms."

"Why didn't you want us to wear them in the first place," asked Hank.

The boy in the trench coat said, "because this woman is not very fond of mutants. She hates them more than any human could. Luckily she never found out I was a mutant." He then thought for a second and said, "Hank I think it would be best if you stayed in the copter while we talk to her."

Hank did not complain. If this woman hated mutants as much as was said then he shouldn't show himself to her.

Ororo hoped into the helicopter and opened the door for the others. Andre and Rogue helped the puppets onto the copter and then entered themselves. As soon as every body was on they left the institute.

Andre was nervous about what would happen when they met the woman. It had been a long time since he talked to the Hanzain Witch.

*************************************************************

Rogue had fallen asleep during the flight. In her dreams she found herself within Suetek's prison below the Earth once again. As soon as she knew where she was, her skin ran cold.

She hid out of view and looked around. Her vision soon showed her the demon lord near the strange cauldron in the middle of the chasm.

Around the cauldron stood his watchers. They seemed to be in a state of trans. Suetek spoke, "it seems that the Puppet Master is traveling to the old Hanzain Witch. These people he is with are very strong indeed. We will need more help in our quest."

He walked over to a stone and picked a small coffin off of it. He opened it up and took out another Totem, but this one was different from the others. It's face was more darker and reptilian like. It had more scales on it's body and it looked more muscular. 

Suetek spoke again, "my special child. My ultimate offspring." He then cut his finger with a knife and dripped his blood into the new Totems mouth.

"Awake my child," he said, "take in my powers. Let my evil flow through you."

Rogue watched as a strange beam of light began to come out of Suetek and into the creature.

Suetek spoke again. "You're blood will be my blood. Your strength will be my strength. Your power will be my power. Awake my child. Become me."

The small creature then began to move a little. 

"Yes," said the demon, "wake my child. Set forth and destroy!"

The creature moved fully now. Suetek had no possessed his special child. The creature gave out a long screech and disappeared.

It was then Rogue woke up screaming. Andre sat beside her. "What's wrong," he asked.

"Ah Ah had another dream about Suetek," she said panting.

Andre looked at her curiously, "you've been having dreams about him?"

Rogue nodded. Charles asked her , "what happened in it this time."

Rogue took a few more deep breaths and said, "he possessed some weird Totem. It wasn't like the others. He called it his special child."

Andre looked worried, "that was a Totem created by Suetek that he made especially for him. It's more powerful that the other ones."

"What are we gonna do about it," Rogue asked.

Andre took a deep breath and said, "we will be patient and see what happens."

They both heard Hank say, "we're arriving at Mississippi now."

Andre decided to forget about the new Totem now and concentrate on the task at hand.

*************************************************************

Andre stood in front of the house of the Hanzain Witch along with the few X-Men and his puppets.

Hank sat in the helicopter as the others headed for the door. Before Andre knocked he said to the others, "ok, I want to warn you that when we are in here just let me do the talking. Don't say anything until she addresses you. And most of all do not be alarmed by her customs of figure."

"Why, what's so bad about the way she looks," Rogue asked.

Andre said, "the Hanzain Cult hates other humans. They hate them so much that they don't wish to look like them. So they mutilate their faces and bodies. They burn, cut, and or butcher themselves. This woman won't be a pretty sight."

Rogue looked to Charles and Ororo uneasily. Andre walked forward and knocked on the door. A strange and almost breathless voice said, "enter." Andre opened the door and led every body in. 

The house was dark and dank. The only light came from a few candles around the room. There were cobwebs all over the place and strange unholy decorations all around.

Rogue saw a few of these and felt sick to her stomach. She saw the skin of a pig draped over the couch. The bones of many animals made up much of the furniture. Rogue also saw many human bones as well. 

"Is this woman some sort of grave robber or something," she said quietly to herself.

She heard the breathless voice say, "yes I am. It is my way."

Rogue covered her mouth and thought, 'oh crap did she hear me?'

Andre turned to the voice. He saw the back of the woman's head as she sat in a chair. She hummed an unusual tune to her self. 

Andre stepped, "ma'am Miss Armondo? It's Andre."

Miss Armondo spoke, "The Puppet Master? It has been some time. I see you brought friends. Can I trust them?"

Andre said, "yes," and then remained silent until the woman spoke again.

After a while of silence she said, "I don't believe I can."

Rogue stepped forward, forgetting everything Andre said before hand. 

She said, "look Miss um, whatever your name is. We came here because the old Cult that you were a member of has kidnapped some of our friends. We need you to tell use where the Hanzain Cult is hiding out. We're not here to question you about your ways, which don't mean anything to us."

The woman said nothing at first. She stood up and faced them all for the first time. 

She was a hideous person. Her flesh was badly burnt, she had no hair, and her skin from her left eyebrow was stretched down over her eye. She had long bony fingers on her lifeless hands. She wore a white gown that had been stained gray over the years.

She looked at Rogue and said, "come here child."

Rogue didn't move at first. She looked over to Andre for a little help, but he gave none. He just gave her a look as if saying, "I warned you."

The woman said louder, "come here child."

Rogue slowly walked over. The woman then said, "hold out your hand."

Rogue paused for a few seconds and did as she was told. The woman held out a live rat in her hand and put it into Rogue. She held the Goth's hand shut around it and made her crush the small animal.

Rogue dropped the dead rat and backed away. She looked at the little body on the ground and said, "oh mah God. Why did you make me do that?"

The woman did not answer her. She looked to Andre and asked, "you seek my old Cult. You must be in more trouble than normal." She looked at the X-Men and said, "I want you to leave while I talk with the boy."

They didn't argue. Charles nodded to the woman and turned his chair. He did not like what this woman just did to Rogue, but he wanted to obey Andre's orders and not speak unless addressed. He though he would make the matter worse if he tried to stand up for Rogue.

As Ororo and Charles began to exit Rogue turned away from the woman and began to walk away. Miss Armondo put her hand on the Goth's shoulder and said, "you, stay with us."

Rogue froze at the touch of the lifeless limb. She didn't want to stay in that house with this very bizarre woman. After making her kill that rat she didn't feel to comfortable near this Miss Armondo.

Ororo turned to the burnt woman and said, "we will not leave our team mate in here. The reason we trust Andre with you is because"

Andre interrupted her. "Please Ororo don't argue with her. If she want's Rogue to stay then she will stay."

Andre knew that if they didn't do as this woman wished then she would not help them at all. He did not want to take that chance. Ororo seemed to know this. She said no more and left the house with Charles.

Miss Armondo still stood with her hand on Rogue shoulder. The Goth tried not to shiver, but she couldn't help it. "Could you please let me go now," she asked.

Miss Armondo said with her burnt lips, "come with me."

She began to pull Rogue backward farther into the house. Andre stepped forward and said, "that's enough Miss, let her go."

"Why," the woman asked with an evil smile. 

She then looked down to the floor and saw the puppets Blade, Tunneler, and Pinhead walking towards her. They seemed very angry with her.

Rogue was a member of the Toulon family and the puppets hated to see someone disrespecting or harming any member of it in any way.

Miss Armondo's face turned to concern. "You brought the puppets," she said. She was worried for her own safety. 

She took her hand off of Rogue and looked at them. "Promise me you won't let them attack me Puppet Master."

"I promise," said Andre, "but only if you lay off my sister."

The woman's face changed back into a smile. "So, the final child of your family. You have found her at last. Well girl, come on in and make yourself at home."

"Yeah right," said Rogue sarcastically, "if this is a home then Ah'm as preppy as Kitty."

Andre knew Miss Armondo didn't here his sister, but he still gave her a quick elbow in the arm. Rogue flinched a little and then stayed quiet. 

They followed the burnt woman through the house. The puppets followed close behind. Each room seemed more dark and demonic than the one before. It made Rogue very uncomfortable.

Finally the entered a small room dining room. There was a small round table in the middle. Miss Armondo sat down and then invited Rogue and Andre to do the same.

They sat around the table as the woman took five small bones out of her dress and began to roll them around the table. 

Rogue leaned near Andre and asked, "what is she doing?"

Andre said, "she's relaxing. A lot of the Hanzain people roll bones around with one hand. They use the bumps of the bones to message their palms. It's sort of their way to relieve stress."

The bones rattled around the table as the woman rolled them. The sound made Rogue's knees shake. She crossed her legs in order to try and stop her shivering.

Miss Armondo finally spoke. "Why are you looking for the Hanzain Cult? Do you seek the knowledge of demons or do you wish to become a member?"

Rogue became offended by this remark. "Ah all ready told you, they kidnapped our friends and we want to get them back."

"Your friends are as good as dead," the woman said. "They'll be lucky if they are not begging for death right now."

Andre said, "I don't think the Hanzain Cult will torture them as badly as you say, but still we have to find them soon."

"My advice to you is forget about them," said the woman, "they won't last long."

Rogue stood up from her chair and said angrily, "look you lousy inconsiderate bitch. Those creeps that you used to be with have our friends and we'll do what ever we have to get them back. Those people have done a lot for me, Ah've never admitted that before, but Ah will now. Ah swear if we have to look for our friends and they die before we can find them, those burns on your face will not be the last scars you get!"

Miss Armondo stood up and looked the pale girl right in her eyes. "And what makes you think I wouldn't mind that," she said. "Every member of the Hanzain Cult enjoys pain. If you even found them you probably wouldn't stand a chance against them."

"Ah don't care," said Rogue, "Ah still want to save mah friends."

"Brave words child," said the woman, "but now you're not getting any information out of me. No body insults me in my own home."

Andre then stood. "It didn't seem like you were going to help us in the first place."

"Very observant," said Miss Armondo, "it is true that I'm no longer a member of the Hanzain Cult, but that doesn't mean I would betray them."

Andre wanted to hit the woman with his cane, but his principles stopped him. He believed that hitting an older person was wrong. "Come on Rogue," he said, "let's get out of here."

He turned away convinced that they would not get any information out of this woman, but Rogue did not follow him. She starred angrily at the woman. "Where are they," she demanded.

"Get out of here," said the woman, "or I'll skin you alive."

Rogue's eye flared up with rage. "GOD DAMN YOU!" she yelled infuriated.

"Oh too late," said the woman, "he already has."

The young Goth didn't even think before she acted. She took off her glove and planted it right on the burnt woman's face. Her powers kicked in instantly. The woman's life force and memories flow into her. 

Rogue didn't let go until she saw the memory of where the Hanzain Cult was. It was so well hidden that she almost didn't receive it. 

She then released her grip on the old woman and her burnt body fell lifeless to the floor.

Andre ran up to Rogue followed by his puppets. "Are you ok," he asked.

Rogue put her glove back on and said, "Ah know where the Hanzain Cult is."

Andre's eyes turned wide with surprise. "How," he asked, "you only touched her." Sadly he still didn't know Rogue's power.

Rogue took a deep breath. She hated telling people her powers and telling the last member of her family was difficult. "If Ah touch someone Ah absorb their memories and life force. And if the person Ah touch is a mutant then Ah can use their powers for a little while."

Andre said, "well that explains it," and said no more. Rogue was surprised that he didn't seem to mind her abilities. "We better get going," he said.

Before they could go Miss Armondo regained consciousness. The two young Toulons looked at her. She said, "there's only one way that you could do that girl, if you were a mutant."

She picked a knife off of a near by counter and said, "I hate mutants."

Rogue stood in a fighting stance and the puppets stood in front of her. Miss Armondo began to attack. She ran towards Rogue with her knife raised.

Suddenly a loud screech was heard. Something came flying out from the side and knocked the old woman down. 

Rogue looked to where the old woman fell and saw one of the Totems scratching up her face. It was the one that was possessed by Suetek. 

Then another Totem came flying from the side toward Andre. The boy held his cane in front of him and the creature smacked right into it.

It grabbed Andre's cane and pushed against it trying to get close enough to slash the boy.

The third Totem went after Rogue it leapt at her and she caught it right before it could cause serious damage. 

It did manage to scratch her eye. The slash hurt so much that Rogue dropped the little monster. For some strange reason her power had no affect on the little thing.

The fourth Totem came out from hiding and was instantly surrounded by the puppets. It slashed at Pinhead and Six-shooter knocking them both down. 

Andre finally used all his upper body strength to push the creature off of him. It flew off of him and knocked over the Totem that attacked Rogue.

As all this was going on the Suetek's special child had killed Miss Armondo. As her body laid on the ground the creature absorbed his life force.

When he was finished he screeched at the other Totems and they made a break for it. The one that was surrounded by the puppets tried to escape, but was tackled by Tunneler and Jester. The other Totems left him behind to fend for himself. 

Andre and Rogue looked over at the burnt woman's body. Andre said, "well it couldn't have happened to a nicer person."

Both Rogue and he breathed heavily. Rogue held the cut on her ear as Andre walked over to take a look at it. 

As he looked Rogue looked towards the puppets. "Andre look, they got a Totem," she said.

Andre turned and saw Pinhead and Decapitron stretching the Totem out in front of Tunneler. Tunneler's drill started up.

Andre said, "let them handle it," and went back to work on Rogue's wound.

Rogue watched as Tunneler's drill went clean into the Totem's stomach. The little creature gave out one final screech of pain and then was silent.

Blood dripped from Tunneler's drill as he pulled it out of the corps. Blade handed Pinhead a small cloth and he began to clean off Tunneler's drill.

*************************************************************

Deep below the Earth Suetek and his watchers stood around the cauldron controlling the Totems in the world above. Suddenly a flash of lighting struck down and hit the watcher that was controlling the Totem that was just killed.

Suetek saw this and said, "no, they have destroyed one of our children."

He looked into the cauldron and saw Andre cleaning off Rogue's wound in it. He was so full of anger. It had been a long time since any one has killed one of his children.

"Enjoy this small victory," he said to the image, "it will be your last."


	9. The Puppet's Dark Side

Author's notes: Thank you all for the reviews. It may take me a little longer to update my story, but I will try to update it as soon as possible. 

*************************************************************

The Puppet's Dark Side

Xavier watched the door to the old woman's house. The two teens had been in there for quiet a while and he was getting worried. His concern had vanished when he saw Rogue and Andre walk quickly out of the house.

Andre followed Rogue strait to the helicopter and said, "we're leaving."

He sounded very shaken up, like something had scared him in there. The Puppets exited the house and ran for the helicopter.

Charles noticed a small bit of blood on Tunneler's drill. He turned to Andre and asked, "what happened."

"The woman's dead," he said.

Rogue nodded and said, "the Totem's attacked us while we were in there. They killed the old woman, tried to kill us, and left. The puppets managed to catch one and kill it," she then turned to Andre. "Why didn't the Totems try harder to kill us? It was like they weren't even trying."

"They weren't trying to kill us Rogue," said Andre, "they're just building up their strength. Didn't you see how the newer Totem lifted that mist from the old woman after she was dead?" Rogue nodded and Andre continued. "Well the reason it did that was to get stronger. Suetek and his watchers can strengthen the Totems by stealing a person's life energy. The more energy they take the stronger they get."

Rogue gave out a worried sigh and said, "great, as if this we didn't have enough problems."

Andre turned to Ororo who was busy trying to start the helicopter. "Why haven't we left yet," he asked in a hurry to leave.

Ororo struggled with the controls and said, "it won't start. Check underneath and see what's wrong."

Andre hopped out of the helicopter. Blade had jumped out with him ready to protect his master. Andre surveyed his surroundings making sure that none of the Totems were near by. He looked down at Blade and said, "watch my back." Blade nodded as Andre looked under the X-copter. 

Rogue sat waiting for them to leave. Her whole body was shaking. She had never seen a person die before, now she was seeing it left and right. Seeing the Cult member killing himself at the institute was hard enough, now seeing the old woman killed made this ordeal even harder. 

She heard Hank's voice ask, "are you ok Rogue?"

She looked and saw Hank Ororo and Charles looking at her. They looked concerned. Was her shivering that obvious?

"Ah just can't stand all this killing," she said.

Charles wheeled himself closer to her and said, "none of us can Rogue. In all my years of trying to help mutants I had hoped they would never have to see someone die."

Before any one could speak again they heard Andre yell, "HOLY SHIT!"

They looked out the window and saw the boy sliding away from the helicopter with shock in his eyes. 

Rogue looked out the other side and saw one of the Totems run out from under the helicopter and into the woods.

The Goth hoped out of the X-copter and helped Andre to his feet, putting his cane back in his hands. "What happened," she asked as Andre gained his balance with his cane.

"That little bastard put a hole in the fuel take," he said angrily. 

"Why the hell would it do that," Rogue asked. 

Andre said very angrily, "I don't know," and he kicked the helicopter with his good foot. 

"It's all right," said Hank, "we've got an extra can of fuel here. The only problem is we don't have anything to plug up the hole."

"How far away from town are we," asked Ororo. 

Xavier looked down the path that led from the main road to the old woman's house. "Probably not to far away," he said. 

"Alright," said Andre, "I'll go to the mobile station and find something to plug up the hole. I'll be back as soon as possible. The rest of you stay here, and that includes you," he said pointing to the puppets.

Rogue stepped forward and said, "Andre you can't go out alone. Those Totems are still out there looking for you. You have to at least take a few of the puppets."

"Rogue, I can't take them with me," said Andre. "I'm going into a populated area, I can't take the chance of someone seeing the puppets."

"Fine, then Ah'm coming with you," said Rogue.

Andre looked into her eyes and said, "Rogue, as you have said, the Totems are still out there. I don't want to risk you getting hurt because you are the only one who knows where the Hanzain cult is now. If the Totems kill you we'll be back to square one."

"Then why don't we let Hank and Ororo go," said Rogue, "The Totems aren't after them."

"Yes they are," said Andre. "They don't care if any of the X-Men are not involved with the puppets. If they are close to you then they will kill them."

He turned and began to walk away. Rogue began to follow him and said, "Andre Ah'm going with you."

The boy turned around with a very frustrated look in his eyes. He had already explained why she couldn't go and now he was getting aggravated. He didn't want to put his sister in danger.

Before he could speak Rogue said, "look Andre, Ah know you don't think Ah under stand what you're saying, but Ah do. Ah know you're just trying to keep me safe, but Ah don't want to wait here and find out later on that your dead."

Andre stood in place. He couldn't think of anything else to say but "alright come on."

Rogue gave a sigh of relief and followed Andre. They walked side by side down the road. Andre was actually more comfortable now that Rogue was coming with him, but he was still concerned for her safety. 

Xavier watched them walk out of sight. Hank stood next to him and said, "Rogue has grown quite close to Andre in a very short time hasn't she."

Charles smiled and said, "he's the only family she has left now. I'm not surprised that she has become found of him."

They stood silently until Ororo said, "where are the puppets?"

Charles and Hank looked down at where the puppets were. All they saw were little footprints heading off into the woods.

Hank said, "I thought Andre instructed them to stay here/"

Charles shook his head and said, "those puppets don't seem to want to be separated from their master. I hope they don't get seen by anyone. The result would disastrous. "

*************************************************************

Rogue and Andre moved quickly. They wanted to get back into the air quickly. Andre felt worry towards the X-Men that were imprisoned by the Hanzain Cult. He hoped that Vonce would not torture them for pleasure. 

When they finally got to the town Andre said, "follow me Rogue, I've been here a few times and I know my way around."

They cut through allies and streets dodging people left and right. Andre stopped in front of a dark ally and said, "this is the quickest way to the mobile station. Come on."

They moved slower now. It was getting dark out and the ally made it to dark to see the ground they were walking upon.

Rogue almost lost sight of Andre. His black close matched the darkness around him. She bumped into him when he suddenly stopped at the sound of voices.

"What's wrong," she asked as Andre looked through the blackness.

Rogue looked in the direction he was looking. Only a few yards away from them stood a small group of five punks. They stood around a fire they had made in a trashcan. Each one looked very muscular.

Andre didn't think they should just cut through them. "Let's take the long way," he said.

Before they could move one of the punks looked at them. "Well, what do we have here," he said as he walked over to them.

The rest of the men followed him and stood around the two mutants. Another man said, "I don't know man. It looks to me like a couple of trespassers."

The first man looked at Rogue. He stepped closer to her and said, "hey baby. What are you doing here."

Andre held his cane in front of his sister blocking the man from getting to close to her. "Leave her alone," he said. 

The man pulled his cane out of his hands. "Keep your crap out of my face," the man said and he through the cane aside.

He then grabbed Rogue by the shoulders and said, "come on baby give daddy some sugar." He began to try to kiss Rogue.

The Goth pushed the man back trying to stop him from touching her skin. She didn't want this creep's thoughts in her head. She kneed him right in between the legs and the man let go.

The man gave a groan of pain and then punched Rogue right in the face. He had on leather gloves so her powers didn't do anything.

"Nobody does that to me bitch," he said.

Andre became infuriated. He punched the man harder then he did Rogue. Then he swung around and kicked another one of the punks down. In doing so he lost his balance on his good leg and fell.

Rogue stood back up holding the side of her head where she was hit. She saw two of the punks lift her brother up by the arms and pin him to a wall. 

The man that tried to kiss her looked at her and said, "you both made a big mistake. Nobody hits me."

Rogue said angrily, "well Ah guys there's a first time for everything."

The man laughed and said to one his comrades, "hold her."

One of the other punks grabbed hold of Rogue before she could move. She struggled to free herself as the first man picked up a large metal bar. "I'm gonna enjoy this. No man will ever want to look at you again."

Andre knew what he meant. He was going to beat Rogue until her face was completely mutilated. He tried to free himself from the other punks' grip on him, but he could not.

The man raised up his weapon, ready to hit Rogue. Andre then did the only thing he could think of. "What are you gonna do pal, beat her like that girl you killed three years ago?"

The man stopped in his tracks and turned to the boy. "What did you say?"

"That girl," said Andre. "The one that you mangled and left to die."

The man walked closer to him. "How the hell did you know about that?"

"I know a lot about your fears," said Andre, "I know for a fact that after you beat the girl the police came and chased you away from her. She died later in the hospital that night. You didn't want to kill her, you just wanted her to pay for hitting you."

"Shut up," the man said angrily.

Andre ignored his command. "You later found out that the girl was the daughter of a minister. The guilt really got to you didn't it? The fact that you killed the daughter of a man of God."

The man said louder, "Shut up!"

"Your afraid that the little girl is waiting your you," he continued. "Down in hell, you think she's waiting for you there. Well maybe your thoughts are true."

The man screamed, "SHUT THE HELL UP!!!"

Andre kept on speaking, "maybe she's waiting down there. Patiently waiting to get her revenge. When you get there she's gonna tare you apart, over, and over, and over again."

"If you don't shut up, I'll shut you up I swear," the man screamed.

During this time all the punks were listening to Andre. Rogue had an opportunity to get away, but she couldn't help but listen to her brother's words.

"Her father left the church because of you," said Andre. "He couldn't think of why God let his little girl die. He became an alcoholic. About a year after that he died in a car accident."

The man began to grab his ears, trying to block out Andre's voice, but he couldn't. Andre just kept on speaking. "That would be an interesting story to tell your child if you ever have kids. I can picture you now with your little boy or girl sitting on your lap. You're bouncing your child on your knee and then you say, "honey daddy wants to tell you about how he ruined the nasty minister's by killing his daughter."

The man couldn't handle it any more. He swung the metal bar at Andre. The boy moved his head slightly so the bar hit one of the punks that held his arms. 

Rogue saw her opportunity now. She jammed her elbow into the man that was holding her and then flipped him over her shoulder. 

Andre hobbled to Rogue's side picking up his cane on the way. They each stood in their fighting stance, ready to hit the first punk that moved.

The first man said, "take them out."

One of his colleagues picked up the lid of a trash can and ran at the two mutants. Rogue took off one of her gloves and held her hand out.

The man suddenly stopped running and looked down at her feet. Rogue gave him a curious look and then felt something rubbing passed her legs.

She looked down to the ground and saw the puppet Torch walking in front of her. "Torch, what are you doing here," she said completely shocked.

Andre looked down and saw the puppet standing with his flame-thrower aimed at the punk holding the garbage can lid.

"I told you to stay at the helicopter with the others," Andre said in a scolding voice.

Torch didn't listen he just grunted at the man in front of him. The man looked at the puppet and said, "what the hell is this thing?"

Torch grunted once more and his eyes lit up a bright red. He let the flames fly out from his flame-thrower hand. 

The man with the garbage can lid could only scream before the fire covered him. The man ran around the alley trying to put the fire out with his hands.

Pinhead and Tunneler came out from hiding. They had been watching the whole incident and they were not going to let these punks hurt their master.

Tunneler ran at one of the other punk's legs with his drill in motion. He jammed it into the man's ankle and he fell to the ground. Pinhead ran over and clamped his hands on the man's neck, squeezing his airway shut.

Andre's eyes turned wide. He yelled at his puppets, "guys hold it! STOP!"

Rogue watched in horror. The puppets were killing these people. She couldn't believe her eyes. Sure these punks were trying to hurt her brother and herself, but she didn't want them dead.

Another man one of the punks tried to help his friend, but Six-shooter stood in his path with all six of his guns aimed at him. He shot the man down instantly with six small bullets.

The fourth punk tried to run away. Jester came out from hiding and stood in the man's path. He tripped over the small puppet and landed flat on his face.

When he looked up he came face to face with Tunneler's drill. In only two seconds Tunneler made a hole in the man's head the size of an apple.

Andre kept on trying to command his puppets to stop, but they didn't listen. Rogue backed up against the wall, not being able to take her eyes off the horrible sight. 

The man that was on fire fell to the ground. The flames finally killed him even though her wasn't burnt completely.

Pinhead took his hands off the other man's neck. The man lay still with his eyes looking lifelessly as the sky.

The first punk, the one that Andre had spoke to, looked at each one of his dead comrades. He began to run out of the ally.

As he ran Blade came out of the shadows slashing his knife at the man's ankle. He fell to the ground and held his wounded leg.

Blade walked over to the man's face and looked him dead in the eye. The man began to beg, "please, please man don't kill me."

Blade paused for a few seconds and then slit the man's throat with his knife. The man gave out a few gasps and then died. Decapitron came out from hiding and stood next to Blade. They looked at the dead man as the blood dripped from his neck.

"Oh mah God," Rogue said. She felt petrified. She never wanted to see anybody die. Even if she didn't like the person she never wanted them dead. "Why did you kill them," Rogue screamed at the puppets.

Andre stepped forward and said, "damn it when are you guys going to learn! You can't just go around killing people any more!"

Rogue looked at Andre. "What?! You mean they've done this before?!"

Andre turned to Rogue. "Well yes, but"

"They're killers," Rogue screamed. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I didn't think you'd understand," said Andre.

"What that you taught your puppets to kill innocent people," Rogue said angrily. "AH mean Ah now that these punks weren't innocent, but that doesn't mean they deserved to die."

"Rogue" Andre tried to explain why they did this, but Rogue didn't let him.

She yelled, "just keep away from me," and ran out of the ally.

Andre yelled after his sister, "Rogue I didn't teach them this. It was the Puppet Master's before me," but she didn't hear him.

Andre looked down at the puppets. They looked shamefully to the ground. They didn't want to hurt Rogue, they thought they were helping.

Andre said, "it's ok guys. I know your consciences were destroyed over the years."

*************************************************************

Rogue ran all the way back to the X-copter. Tears were running down her cheeks and her purple eye shadow had run into dark lines down her face. 

When she arrived she told Charles and the others everything. She told about the punks in the ally and how Andre talked to the one that killed the girl.

She talked about how each one was killed by the puppets and that Andre said they had killed before.

"I can't believe this," said Ororo, "I never thought those puppets were capable of killing innocent people." 

"What do you think we should do about this Charles," asked Hank.

Charles thought for a while and said, "I don't know. Andre doesn't seem like the kind of person who would permit this type of action from his puppets."

Rogue wiped the tears away from her eyes and said, "Ah say we just leave now and try to save the others."

Ororo said, "we can't leave Rogue. Remember there's still a hole in the fuel tank."

Andre's voice came from out of the darkness saying, "I got some stuff to fix it up."

He stepped out of the blackness followed by the puppets. He had a small can of stuff that would fix the hole in the fuel tank and he set the can down beside him. The four X-Men just starred at him as he entered the clearing. 

He looked down at his puppets and back to the X-Men. "I guess I've got some more explaining to do," he said.

"There's no point in trying to explain anything," Rogue said angrily.

Andre began to walk over to her saying, "Rogue if you will just listen to me" before he could finish Rogue backed away from him.

Andre said sternly, "didn't you hear me back in the ally? I tried to tell you that I didn't teach the puppets this. It was the people who were the Puppet Masters before me."

"So you're saying it was our grand father who taught the puppets to kill," Rogue asked still mad at her brother.

"NO," said Andre, "Andre the first would have never had his puppets kill innocent people unless he went mad. The only time that he had his puppets kill, that I know of, was when his wife Elsa was killed. And he did that because he was so stricken with grief and he had to protect the magic. It was the Puppet Master's after him that taught the puppets to kill innocence."

"I thought that only members of the Toulon family became Puppet Master's" Ororo asked.

"That's not true," said Andre. "remember when I told you that if the magic of the puppets fell into the wrong hands it could be abused. Well, many people have done that to the magic. These puppets have been discovered by many masters over the decades and not all of them were good people. In fact most of them weren't." 

"So who were these other Puppet Masters," Rogue asked still angry.

Andre gave a sigh of sadness and said, "I know a lot of them, but there's one on know the most His name was Neal Galiger. He was a member of a small group of psychics who had been looking for the secret of our grandfather. When he discovered the puppets' location at the Bodega Bay Inn he married the owner of it so he would be able to search the building without worry of being charged for trespassing or having to sign any contracts with her."

"When he discovered the magic it to give himself immortality. He invited his psychic group to the inn and fact his death so he could hide easily within the hotel without suspicion. He wanted to test the formula on freshly dead corpses, so he manipulated the puppet's minds. He blocked got into their heads and pushed out all the good that they knew, like many of the Puppet masters before me did. Galiger had the puppets do his dirty work. They killed all the psychics except for one man named Alex Widecer. He went insane shortly after the incident, but that's not important right now." 

"Any way after all were dead Alex discovered what Galiger was up to. He revealed everything he was doing, but unfortunately for him the puppets overheard him. He said that he was not going to use the formula on the puppets anymore. Since Galiger destroyed the good in them, they desired only to help themselves at that point. So they killed Neal. But that doesn't mean the puppets are evil. They've just been extremely misguided. They need the right person to lead them on the right path."

Rogue's anger backed away a little, "so are they still like that," she asked.

"Well after many years the spirit of our grandfather found them again. When he did he saw what all the other Puppet Masters had done to them. He saw that there was nothing left. Their consciences were destroyed and they had no understanding of good or evil, right or wrong. But when they saw Andre the first they began to act somewhat like their old selves, but they still needed help to be lead back to the good path."

"The spirit of our grandfather worked with them, trying to rebuild their conscience. It was difficult work. Now after many years they have come a long way. Their moral sense is almost fully made again, but I admit that is now excuse for what they did in the ally."

"The reason they did that was because they saw those punks attacking us. They only now cause harm to people if they think a person is attacking me. But even though they have come a log way there is still some work to be done. Do you understand what I'm saying Rogue?"

Rogue looked at him for a while. "Ah understand, but Ah'm gonna have to think about this."

Andre nodded. Rogue walked by him and stood in front of the puppets. It wasn't their fault that their minds had been corrupted. What Andre told her reminded her of when Mystique had tricked her into joining the Brother Hood. She had made Rogue believe that the X-Men were her enemies and that all their beliefs of a world where humans and mutants lived in peace were wrong. Her experiences were in a small way similar to what had happened to the puppets.

She turned back to Andre and said, "you're gonna need help working with them."

Andre asked, "you mean you don't' blame the puppets for what they did."

Rogue smiled and said, "Ah can't stay made at them. After all you and the puppets are the only real family Ah have left."

Andre smiled lightly. Rogue walked over to him and hugged him. "Ah'm sorry Ah blamed you," she said.

Andre said, "it's ok. You just didn't know what the puppets went through. You still have a lot to learn about them. I'll teach you what I can."

Charles and Ororo watched the two embraced. Ororo leaned closer to Charles and whispered, "Rogue has never forgiven anybody this quickly before."

Charles smiled and said, "these two have developed a bound in a short amount of time. Forgiveness is natural for family members." 

The two stopped hugging and Andre said, "well enough of this heartwarming moment. We need to save your friends."

Rogue nodded and they all prepared to leave. 

As Hank repaired the hole in the fuel tank Rogue opened the helicopter door for the puppets. They all hoped in one at a time. Blade was the last one to get in. He stopped after he leapt into the door and looked up at Rogue apologetically.

Rogue said, "it's ok Blade, Ah understand now."

Blade nodded walked over to the other puppets. As soon as the hole was repaired everyone entered the helicopter. 

Andre turned to Rogue and said, "ok Rogue, you're gonna have to give us directions the Hanzain Cult's lair. You're the only one who knows where it is."

"all right," said Rogue as they lifted into the air and flew off into the dark of night.


	10. The Temple of Hanzain

Author's Notes: Once again I'd like to thank all that have reviewed. I will try to keep my story interesting.

*************************************************************

The Temple of Hanzain

Rogue led the X-Men to the stated of Ohio. It was almost midnight when they arrived. As she guided Hank through the air she couldn't help but worry of what was to come. 

Finally she pointed down to a small dark clearing in the middle of a large stretch of woods. "It's down there," she said.

Hank set the X-copter down a little farther into the woods. He didn't want to draw any attention.

As soon as they landed Andre opened the door and hoped out. The puppets followed him one at a time. 

Rogue got out and stood next to Andre. They began to head for the clear before Hank and Ororo could help Charles out of the chopper. 

Rogue was the first one to enter the clearing. She looked around for any sign of the Hanzain Cult, but she couldn't find one. There was only the empty clearing.

Andre and the puppets entered the clearing and stood near Rogue. "Where the hell is the temple," Andre asked.

Rogue began to look around her. She was very confused. "The old woman's thoughts showed me that the temple was right here," she said. "Ah don't see anything."

Charles, Hank and Ororo entered the clearing. Rogue turned to them and said, "the temple's not here."

"What," asked Ororo, "but you saw this area in the old woman's head."

"Ah know," said Rogue, "but Ah can't find any trace of a temple."

"It's got to be here somewhere," said Andre. He began searching around the clearing. As he was looking around Jester noticed something in a bush near the outer edge of the clearing. He tapped Six-shooter on the shoulder and led him over to it. Nobody noticed the two leave. 

Andre stopped searching and said, "this clearing is completely flat. If there was a temple here it would stick out like a sore thumb."

Charles thought for a while and said, "may be I should try to contact one of the captives. If I can reach them it means that we are close."

Andre said, "ok you do that." He then looked and noticed that two of his puppets were missing. "Where's Six-shooter and Jester?"

Rogue looked around and said, "may be they're trying to find the temple. Come on Andre Ah'll help you look for them."

"All right," he said. "Now I want every body to be on the look out. If the Hanzain temple is here that means we could run into the Cult."

Then he began to search for Six-shooter and Jester with Rogue. Xavier began to send out a mind message, hoping to find his captured students.

*************************************************************

Jean sat in the cell shivering. Not only was she cold, but also very afraid. Scott had been dragged out of the cell a little while ago. She could hear him screaming at the end of the long corridor. 

When he was brought back he had long gashes on his back. He wasn't dead, but he went through much pain.

The guard that brought him back said, "I will return in a little while, when we choose which one of you will be tormented next."

That's what made Jean afraid the most. Waiting for her turn to be tortured.

She just sat as Logan tried to release himself from his chains. Kitty sat in the corner with Kurt. They huddled together trying to keep themselves warm in the cold cell. 

Scott had passed out after whatever the Hanzain Cult did to him. Jean thought it best to let him rest.

She began to hug her knees. She wanted to go home so badly. All she wanted to do was go back to the institute and forget that this whole thing ever happened.

She was about to fall asleep when she heard the Professor's voice in her head. "Jean Scott can anybody hear me?"

Jean called out, "Professor," with out thinking.

Down the corridor one of the guards heard her sudden shout. One of the guards turned to the other and said, "go and get Vonce. It seems the leader of these X-Men has contacted the red head."

The other guard nodded and went to fetch Vonce. 

Back in the cell Kurt and Kitty turned to Jean. Logan stopped fighting with his chains and looked to Jean. They all fell silent.

Charles continued talking to Jean in her mind. "Oh thank God. I've managed to reach you."

Jean said in her mind, "where are you Professor? These Hanzain people just tortured Scott and they're gonna do the same to one of us soon."

"We are at the area where we believe the temple to be located," said Charles. "We will try to free you all as soon as we can."

"Please hurry," Jean said, "I don't know how long these people are going to let us live."

Charles said, "just try and stay calm Jean, and what ever you do, do not reveal to the Hanzain Cult that we are near."

"Ok," was Jean's last thought before the Professor left her mind.

"What's happening," asked Kitty. "Have the others found the temple?"

Jean only nodded and said, "don't yell it out. We don't want the Cult to know."

"Know what," they heard a familiar and evil voice ask. 

All of them turned to the entrance of the cell and saw Vonce standing right in front of them with Hennin next to him.

Jean covered her mouth instantly. She couldn't believe she just blurted out t to tell the Hanzain Cult something. Now they knew she was hiding something.

Jean quickly said, "nothing."

Vonce laughed and said, "you don't want me to know about nothing. We I'm afraid that I know your Professor has contacted you."

Jean's eyes turned wide. She hoped that Vonce didn't hear why Xavier contacted her.

Vonce spoke again, "what did he tell you?"

Jean kept her mouth closed. Vonce took out his large knife and walked towards Jean.

Kurt jumped up and got in his way. "Leave her alone," he said demandingly."

Vonce held onto his knife. "Out of my way mutant," he said, "or I will stab you so hard that your bitch of a mother will feel the pain."

Kitty stood up and stood nervously next to Kurt. "Back off," she said. "None of us will tell you what the Professor told Jean. If you kill us you'll never find out, and I think that if we were dead it would make the Puppet Master very angry."

Vonce thought about this. He could not afford to anger young Toulon. If he did the Puppet Master would not come to his temple and the formula would be out of his grasp once again. And young Andre would use the magic to its full extent to get avenge these mutants. He could not take that chance. But he needed to know what The Professor told the girl called Jean.

The tried to think of a way to get it out of them. In no time he had the perfect plan. "Take these three to my quarters," he said. "Leave the chained man and the unconscious boy here." 

Hennin and two guards grabbed Kurt, Kitty, and Jean and dragged them out of the cell.

Vonce said to himself, "I have ways to make people reveal secrets."

*************************************************************

Back in the clearing Charles returned to his own mind. "They're close by," he said, "I could sense it when I contacted Jean."

"Are they alright," asked Ororo. 

"Yes," said Charles, "but Jean seemed very afraid. We must get them out o there quickly."

Rogue and Andre listened to him as they searched for Six-shooter and Jester. Rogue looked into a bush and said, "Ah can't find them. Where are those two?"

"Just keep looking," said Andre, "we've got to find them before we do anything else."

As they continued their search Blade and Pinhead looked over to a bush on the far side of the clearing. They could see two small figures moving around between its branches.

Pinhead walked over to Rogue and tapped the side of her leg. She looked down at the muscular puppet. "What is it Pinhead?"

He pointed to the bush where the commotion was coming from. Rogue tapped Andre on the shoulder and showed him what she now saw.

Rogue walked slowly towards the bush. She knew that the Totems were still after them, and she knew that she had to be very cautious.

The rustling in the bush stopped when the Goth knelt down near it. Rogue reached her gloved hand out to move some of the branches aside. 

A small hand came out of the bush quickly followed by five more. Rogue jumped back in shock as Six-shooter came out from behind the branches.

Rogue stood up and said, "what the hell are you doing Six-shooter."

Jester came out of the bush and waved his hand as if he wanted Rogue to follow him. Six-shooter pointed to the bush with one of his hands.

Rogue followed the two puppets making her way through the branches and leaves. Behind the bush Jester showed her a strange slab of stone with some sort of writing on it.

She called to the other, "Professor Andre there's something of here."

After a few minutes the X-Men and Andre came to her followed by the rest of the puppets. Andre knelt down next to the stone. He looked at the inscriptions on it and said, "this writing is in the language of the Hanzain Cult."

He felt around the stone. His fingers soon came upon a crack near the ground. 

Andre slid his hands along the crack. He studied the stone for a while and then said, "it's some sort of door. This has got to be the entrance to the Hanzain temple. That's why we couldn't find it, the whole temple is under ground."

He began to push at the stone saying, "somebody help me get it open."

*************************************************************

Jean, Kitty, and Kurt were dragged through the corridors. They were brought to Vonce's chamber. Vonce was already waiting for them there. He sat in a stone chair in the far corner. 

The room was lit with many candles. It was round and almost completely empty. All that was in there was the chair and a table near the middle.

Vonce stood up and said, "guards leave us."

The guards did as they were told, but Hennin stayed. 

The three captured X-Men stayed close to each other. Their powers may not be working, but they could still fight together.

Vonce walked over to them. He could see the look of hatred in their eyes.

"Don't look at me like that," he said. "I want the Puppet Master's magic and I will do anything to get it. If you understood the power you would do the same thing I would."

Kitty said angrily, "that's not true. We wouldn't kidnap innocent people just to get some stupid like, hocus-pocus."

"Oh trust me," said Vonce, "it is much more than that. Just think about it. The secret to an ever lasting life. Kidnapping you is a worthy task in order to live forever."

"That's enough," said Kurt, "we know why you brought us up here. You want to know what the Professor told Jean. Well you can torture us all you want, we'll never tell."

Vonce laughed a little and said, "actually I wasn't going to torture you."

The three mutants looked at him confused. The cloaked man pointed to the table in the middle of his chamber. On it were three plates of food with cups water along side them.

Vonce looked back at the mutants and said, "I'm sure you must be famished."

"Oh so you're gonna try to butter us up so you can get the information," said Kitty. "Well that won't work either."

Vonce said, "the food is not to persuade you to tell me anything. I just wish to talk."

The three mutants looked towards the food. They had not eaten or had water ever since Vonce kidnapped them. They were very hungry.

They walked slowly over to the table and began to eat. They did not eat quickly. The food was cold and somewhat stale, but it was better than nothing.

Vonce began to passe slowly. "I guess I should apologies for the treatment of you. You are not the ones that deserve this punishment, it is the Puppet Master's"

"We know that apology means nothing," said Kurt, "so don't bother." He too a sip of water.

Vonce paused and said, "I am just trying to reason with you. If you do not cooperate we will have to get into more painful negotiations."

Jean took a sip of water and said, "just stop it alright. You think we're gonna cooperate with you. You kidnapped us and tortured Scott."

"Not to mention that you killed Rogue's parents so long ago," Kitty said.

Vonce laughed and said, "I guess Andre told you about that."

Kitty said, "Kurt and I over heard him telling Rogue about what you did to them. He said that you killed them without mercy. And you expect us to cooperate with you? You killed my best friend's parents."

Her throat felt very dry. Vonce saw her take a sip of water and smiled behind the darkness of his hood. He said, "I didn't really expect you to see reason. I have just been talking to you so I can buy some time."

The three mutants stopped eating. Jean asked, "buying time for what?"

Vonce laughed again and took a vial of a blue liquid out of his cloak. Kitty saw this and asked, "what's that?"

Vonce stopped laughing and said, "it is an antidote."

"To what," asked Kurt.

Vonce said, "the poison that was in the water you all just drank."

He began to laugh evilly. Hennin began to laugh as well. The three mutants looked into the water. They could not believe that Vonce had poisoned it. Kitty began to feel afraid and started breathing heavily.

"I wouldn't do that little girl," said Vonce, "the poison works faster with every breath you take."

"Why did you do this," Kurt yelled both angry and afraid.

Vonce said, "so you would learn never to defy me. If I order you to tell me something then you tell me, I order you to do something you do it. Is that clear."

Jean tried not to breath so hard, "I thought you weren't gonna kill us because of Andre."

"Well that's a risk I'm willing to take," said Vonce, "if you tell me what your Professor told you when he contacted you, I will give you the antidote."

Jean looked over to Kurt and Kitty. It was true that she didn't want to die, but she was afraid for her friends now.

"Alright," said Jean. She couldn't believe she was betraying the Professor, but she had no other choice. "He told me that they were near the temple. They're gonna try and free us soon." Her voice changed to anger as she said, "are you happy now?"

"Very," said Vonce. He put the antidote back into his cloak.

"What are you doing," Jean yelled, "you said you'd give us the antidote if I told you!"

"That's true," said Vonce, "and you would need the antidote if I had really poisoned you."

The three mutants stopped panicking and stood in disbelief. "WHAT," Kurt screamed.

"I know that I had said I would risk killing you, but I had lied," said Vonce. "If I were to really kill you the Puppet Master would leave here and he would come back much later using his magic at its full power. I could not take that chance."

Kitty said, "you tricked us." She stormed towards the cloaked man and slapped him hard in the face screaming, "YOU BASTARD!"

Kurt and Jean were surprised at the preps sudden cursing. She had never sworn before.

Vonce felt where Kitty had hit him and said, "thank you for that joyful pain Hennin take them to the torture chamber, and bring their two friends from their cell."

*************************************************************

Outside Hank and Andre had finally got the stone off. Under it stood a long stairway descending deep into the Earth.

Charles looked down the stairs and said, "these people must hardly ever see the light of day."

Andre suddenly grabbed hold of his head. He had been hit with a large burst of someone else's fear."

Rogue looked at him and asked, "what's wrong?"

Andre opened his eyes and said, "it's Jean. She's afraid. Afraid for us."

"What," Ororo asked. "What are you talking about Andre?"

Andre continued, "Jean's afraid that Vonce is going to find us. Vonce knows that we're here, and she's afraid that Vonce is gonna kill us."

Rogue asked, "how can you seance that, you don't know where Jean is in this temple."

"My powers can have a mind of their own sometimes," said Andre. "They get the better of me every now and then."

Hank looked down the stairs and back to the others. "We must find the others quickly," he said, "come on."

Andre stopped him before he could enter the temple. "You're not going down there," he said. "Now that Vonce knows we're here I can't allow all of you to go down there."

"But we've got to save the others," said Ororo.

"I know that," said Andre, "but if we all go down there then it will be difficult for all of us to hide from the Hanzain Cult. The less people down there the hard it will be to find them."

Xavier sighed and said, "you're right Andre. Which one of us will go."

Andre said, "Rogue, me, and the puppets."

"But that is still a lot of you going down there," said Ororo.

"Don't worry," said Andre, "the puppets are more stealthy than any body else. It will be like it'll just Rogue and me down there."

"Are you sure about that," asked Hank.

Rogue was the one to answer him. "Look Hank, Ah know I haven't known these puppets for very long, but Ah do know that they can take care of themselves."

Charles shook his head as if he were exhausted and said, "very well. But what should the rest of us do while you tow are searching for my students."

Andre said, "you go back to your mansion and get the rest of your students. With their help it won't matter if Vonce knows we're here. We'll have enough to fight against him."

They all came to an agreement. Charles headed back to the X-copter with Ororo and Hank. The puppets went down the stairs followed by Rogue and Andre. They descended slowly into the temple of Hanzain.


	11. Fighting in the Dark

Author's notes: Thank's to all who reviewed. This chapter will finally have some action in it.

***********************************************************************

Fighting In the Dark

The five captured X-Men were chained to the wall in the torture chamber. Both Vonce and Hennin were setting up a table for one of the prisoners.

Two guards stood at the door, ready to attack whichever mutant tried to escape. After the table was set with chains and shackles Vonce turned to the guards and said, "go and tell my men to watch for the intruders. If they find the Puppet Master I want him brought to me alive."

The guards nodded and headed off to do their deed. Hennin picked up a long and slender dagger and shoved the blade into a tub of hot cols.

He looked over to the five X-Men and asked, "which one of you would like to go first." They stood silent. "Oh come now. I imagine you all would like to get this over with and let sweet relief overcome you afterwards."

He pulled the dagger out of the cols. It glowed a fiery red. Hennin walked over to Kitty and held it in front of her face. "How about you," he asked as Kitty began to shake, "would you like to just have this done with."

He began pushing the dagger closer to her face. Kitty closed her eyes tight hoping that it would make it less painful. Before the hot blade could touch her flesh Logan yelled, "get away from her!"

Vonce walked over to Logan and held his hand out to Hennin. Hennin put the dagger in his hand and Vonce jammed it into Logan's arm.

As the gruff man tried to hold back the pain Vonce said, "nobody orders me when I'm in a torture session."

He yanked the dagger out of Logan. Scott looked angrily at the cloaked man. "Why are you doing this?"

"Agony is our pleasure," said Vonce. "Plus if I torture you then the Puppet Master will try harder to find you. I wanted him here, and now that he has arrived I am closer to the magic, and immortality."

"Immortality," asked Jean, "I knew you were the kind of man who only cared about living a long life."

"That is not the reason I want the formula," said Vonce.

He walked over to the table and jammed the knife into it so it stood perfectly upright. He then said, "I have lived a long time. Over a century that is. I am surprised that my health is still as good as it once was.

I have ruled the Hanzain Cult for many decades. They have always said that I was the best ruler that had ever commanded them. If I am to pass on then there would be no other ruler that could administer this society as well as I. All of my followers know this."

Kurt struggled with his chains and said with no kindness, "then why don't you just teach someone else how to rule like you. Have you ever thought of that? Instead chasing after Andre for all this time you could have had a qualified ruler."

"If only it were that simple," said Vonce. "We have been after the secret of Toulon even before I ruled. And when my reign began we never really thought of a replacement ruler until now. And time for me is growing short."

Vonce then held his hood and slid it off of his head. His face was now completely exposed. 

Jean and Kitty gasped at the horrible sight. Vonce had mutilated his face. His skin was very badly burned. He had filed his teeth down to sharp points and his eyes were pitch black. But there was something else in his face besides the ugliness. A sign of age.

Vonce said, "I know that it is hard to see what I am really like because of my complexion, but under my fearful features I am old and sick. It may not look it, but as a matter of fact I am dying."

The X-Men were all wide eyed. Vonce seemed very healthy for a dying man. The cloaked man continued. "The reason that I am not weakened by my condition is not surprising to any of my followers. All members the Hanzain Cult keeps their strength and health until they are in the grave. Until I am finally dead and rotting I will still be as strong and fit as ever. But I still need the formula that can give life. With it every one of my followers will live on. We will walk the Earth even after the youngest of you four has passed on."

After a long time of silence Logan spoke. "That speech of yours still hasn't proven us wrong. You are only doing this for your own immortality."

"Oh that is not the only reason," said Vonce, "I am also doing this so the Hanzain Cult can rise above and become the leading race in the world. And to do that we need to raise fear into the hearts of others, we need to become even stronger then the people that walk the Earth above us."

He then walked over to the wall on the other side of the torture chamber. He pulled on a small lever and a small portion of the wall opened up revealing a large hidden compartment.

Inside stood a big tube full of a frozen liquid, and incased in the liquid was some sort of horrible creature.

It was covered in brown hair and stood upright life a man. It had long muscular arms with five fingered claws at the ends that looked like they could snap a man in two.

Its face was shaped like a normal human head, but was still far from human. The eyes were as black as Vonce's. There was no nose, just two holes for nostrils. Its mouth was full of sharp teeth.

Vonce walked up to the tube and said, "this creature is not alive. It is a puppet made of flesh like the Totems that Suetek controls, only much bigger. It was made of human and animal parts, manly wolves and bears. Before I became ruler the people of the Hanzain Cult planed to create many of these creatures. If the formula was ever in our grasp we would bring these creatures to life and set them loose on the world. Sadly after many years passed this beautiful specimen was forgotten until now."

He began to rub his hand against the tube. "I have managed to preserve it. And soon when I became the ruler I tried hard to find the formula and bring it to life. But then I learned that the formula could not only help you to live forever, but it could also transfer you into a new body."

He turned back to the five mutants. They all looked at him as if he was crazy. He then said, "and that is what I plan to do. I will transfer into this creature. The I will create more like it and have my men do the same. When we have all become these strong creatures we will set forth on the world until we are the master race."

The X-Men thought about his words. This madman's dream of having his race superior almost similar to Magneto's dream of mutants being superior over humans, but Vonce was more mad then Magneto.

Jean shook her head at the man and said, "you're insane."

"Am I," said Vonce, "or have my eyes just been opened to a new future. The answer is no matter to you. You will soon be feeling to much agony to care."

*************************************************************

Rogue and Andre followed the puppets down the stairs. There was no noise around them except for the clacking of Andre's cane against the ground. 

Rogue looked over to Andre. "Could you try and stop making so much noise with that thing."

Andre tried hard to stop the cane's clacking. 

When they reached the bottom of the stairs they were surrounded by darkness. As they walked forward Rogue said, "Ah can't see a thing."

Andre grabbed onto her gloved hand and put it on his shoulder. "Hold on to my back," he said.

He began walking forward tapping his cane against the ground like a blind man. The puppets followed them in the dark. The smell of rotting flesh filled the air.

Andre stopped when his cane hit the front o a wooden door. He felt along it until his fingers slid across letters formed on the door. "Torch, could you give me a little light," he asked.

Torch let out his flame-thrower only a little bit. Andre red the words upon the door. "Follow the footsteps of Hanzain, let sweet pain become your joy."

Rogue swallowed hard. Those words sent chills down her spine. 'How could any one find joy in pain,' she thought.

Andre turned the knob on the door and opened it. They entered into a larger hall. The only light here came from large torches along the walls.

Rogue closed the door quietly. When the door closed she heard a horrid scream coming from the far reaches of the temple. Rogue knew the scream immediately. "That's Kitty," she said rather loudly. 

Andre looked sadly to the ground and said, "she's being tortured."

Rogue began to run in the direction of the scream. Andre stopped her by putting the head of his cane around her neck. Rogue gagged as her brother pulled her back.

"What are you doing," she said angrily. "Ah gotta help Kitty. You just said so yourself, she's being tortured." 

"That's true," said Andre, "but you're not gonna help her by just running through this temple hoping that you'll eventually find her. We have to be quiet or else we'll get caught."

Rogue knew Andre was right. She could not just run aimlessly around the temple. She just couldn't stand hearing Kitty in pain. She was so innocent.

Andre then said, "look we will find her. I don't want your friends to get hurt any more then you do, but we've got to be smart about this."

Rogue nodded and said, "alright."

They began to move cautiously through the hall again. Each step they made was quieter then the first. The puppets stopped in the middle of the hall when they heard something strange.

Rogue looked down at them, "what's wrong guys?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong," a hidden voice said to them. "It appears that we have some intruders in our mitts."

Rogue and Andre froze in their paths. Andre whispered to himself, "oh shit."

The voice spoke again, "prepare for a battle in the dark."

Just then one of the torches puffed out as if hit by a gust of wind. Rogue looked at where the flame was with wide eyes. Then the second torch went out. Then came the third, the fourth, and the fifth. Soon all the torches were out and blackness surrounded the two mutants and puppets.

"What'd they do this for," Rogue asked Andre. She tried her best to find her brothers location when he spoke.

"The members of the Hanzain Cult can see in the dark," the boy said, "we're sitting ducks now."

The voice came again. "That is correct. I assure you that you will not escape us."

Andre turned to the sound of footsteps on his side. Then another pair was heard near Rogue. "This is bad," said Andre, "we don't even know if we're facing one guy or twenty."

The sound of footsteps soon faded away. The puppets each separated to protect the two Toulon children. Torch, Blade, and Tunneler went to Rogue's side. Six-shooter, Jester, and Pinhead went to Andre, and Decapitron stood in between the two ready to help who ever needed it.

Rogue listened for any sound, but heard nothing. "Do you think they're gone," she asked. She then rolled her eyes at her stupid question. She knew the Cult members would not just leave when they had the upper hand.

Andre said, "be very cautious, they're cloaks make them as dark as the blackness around them."

The silence around them was too eerie for Rogue's liking. She had never had to fight an enemy that she couldn't see or hear.

The Goth then felt something brush against her side. She froze where she stood. She said quietly, "Torch, start your flame-thrower."

Torch did as commanded. He held out his arm and let loose a huge ball of flame. The fire made it so Rogue could clearly see five Hanzain Cult members surrounding her. Each one was only two feet away from her.

The fires bright light caused them all to retract a few feet away from Rogue. Andre turned and saw all the cloaked men around his sister. "Hold on Rogue," he screamed as he began to head over to her.

With out any warning a choke wire went around Andre's neck. Another cloaked man had snuck up behind him while he wasn't paying attention. 

The choke wire cut off Andre's windpipe. The boy dropped his cane as he was dragged deeper into the darkness before his puppets could help him. 

"Andre," Rogue yelled as she heard her brother choke and gasp. 

She turned just in time to see one of the cloaked men lunging at her. Torch defended the girl and hit the man with his flame.

The man fell to the ground dropping his knife. He stood back up ignoring the fire burning his flesh.

He made another attack on Rogue. She dodged it swiftly, but the man came around again and hit her in the side. She fell to the ground as a hole burned through the shoulder of her shirt. She quickly managed to put out the flame with her gloved hand. 

The enflamed man stood over her and said, "if I am to die then so shale you."

Rogue looked to her side and saw the knife that the man had dropped. The man held out his arms. He prepared to fall on top of Rogue so the flames would engulf her to.

As the man began to fall Rogue grabbed the knife and swung it at him. The flaming body flew away from her and the man lay dead on the ground with a huge gash in his stomach.

Rogue ran an stood next to the flaming body. This provided her at least a little light.

Blade, Torch, and Tunneler stood beside her while the other puppets ran blindly through the darkness to find Andre. All they could her were his gasps.

Within the darkness Andre fought the man that was strangling him. The choke wire remained tight around his neck.

He managed to slip his fingers under the wire, but all that did was make his fingers bleed.

Everything began to turn red around him. He thought that he was going to die. 

Andre made one last attempt to free himself. With his good leg he kicked out the left shine of his attacker. They both fell to the ground.

Andre landed with his back on top of the man, but the wire was still around his neck.

He reached around the floor frantically hoping to get one of his puppet's attention, but instead his fingertips slid across something cold. It felt sort of metallic and curved slightly. Andre knew immediately that it was his cane.

He tried to reach it. His fingertips barely touched the silver snake head. His attacker said, "don't bother fighting me, give in to your upcoming death."

Andre didn't give up. He made one last lunge for his cane and just managed to grab it. He sung it in back of his and hit the cloaked man right in the face.

The man's grip on the wire loosened and Andre slid out.

He stood over the man and continually hit him in the face with his cane. In no time the man was dead.

Mean while Rogue called for her brother as she stood near the flaming corps. She didn't hear him gasping any more and was afraid he was dead.

Suddenly a dark figure came running into the fire light. Rogue turned around with her knife ready, but it was only Andre. He had his hand up to his neck and he was coughing up a storm. 

"Andre, your alive," Rogue said as she helped the boy keep his balance.

Andre coughed again and said, "yeah barely." He then yelled for the other puppets, "every body regroup at the flaming corps."

They waited for a while, but the puppets did not come. Andre looked down at Tunneler and said, "Tunneler go find the others."

The puppet nodded and ran into the darkness. Andre then turned to Rogue. "Did you take anybody out?"

"Only one guy," Rogue said.

She looked down at Andre's hands and noticed they were bleeding. "Oh mah God, what happened," she asked.

Andre looked at his hands and said, "it's nothing, forget about it."

Rogue ignored his words and picked up one of his hands. She seemed to have forgotten about her fear of blood. She saw the cuts on each one of Andre's fingers and asked, "are you alright, how did this happen?"

"Oh how touching," a voice said from the shadows. 

Rogue and Andre looked and saw four cloaked men walk into the firelight, each holding large knife.

Rogue held her knife in a stabbing position and Andre held his cane ready to swing. "Brave children you may be," said one man, "but it appears that you are out numbered."

Blade and Torch then stood in front of Rogue and Andre. They looked ready and willing to fight.

The first cloaked man just laughed and said, "you think those two little puppets will be able to protect you? I think not."

All of a sudden a volt of electricity came out of the darkness and hit the man that spoke. Decapitron came running into the firelight followed by the other four puppets.

Pinhead and Jester each grabbed one of the ankles of one man and pulled him to the ground. Tunneler walked onto the man's chest and drilled a hole in his face.

Decapitron electrocuted another man and he fell to the ground. Six-shooter then held out his six guns and shot the man until he stopped moving.

It was now Andre's turn to attack. He ran up to another cloaked man and hit him dead on with his cane. The man retaliated by punching the young Puppet Master hard in the face.

Then the first man that was electrocuted stood up from where he laid. He turned to Rogue and ran at her with his knife in hand.

Rogue stopped the man's attack by grabbing his arm, but at the same time the man grabbed her other arm. They fought with each other trying to gain control over the other.

Andre saw what was happening and took his attention away from his opponent. He was once again punched had in the face. The cloaked man that he fought grabbed hold of the boy's collar and threw him down to the ground. 

Andre looked back up and saw his enemy coming at him. He swung his cane upwards and hit the man right in the neck. The man stumbled backwards, but kept his balance. Andre hooked the snake head of his cane around the man's ankles and yanked him off balance.

The man fell to the ground. Andre stood over him. He raised his cane in the air and slammed it right into the man's face. A small bit of blood came splashing out from the man's hood and went right to Andre's face.

He didn't mind the blood. He raised his cane again and bashed the man's face in. 

Rogue continued to battle her enemy. The man seemed to be much stronger than she was. Her arms were about to give into the man's strength when Andre came and hit the man right in the back with his cane.

The man let go of Rogue's arm. The Goth punched the man in the face and then stabbed him in the gut, but he didn't die.

He pulled the knife out of his body and threw it at Rogue. She fell over backwards in order to dodge the blade.

The Man stood with blood dripping from his stomach and his knife in hand. He was about to attack Rogue again, but he saw the seven puppets were standing around him. 

He knew he was out numbered now. Blade swung his knife in the air and ran at the man. The cloaked figure kicked the puppet across the room and made a break for the door at the end of the hallway.

Six-shooter aimed to of his guns at the man as he ran. He fired them. The bullets flew through the air, but only one of them hit the man in the back, but still he didn't die. He passed through the door and ran for the torture chamber. 

On the other side of the door Andre helped Rogue to her feet. "Those guy's just don't quit," she said as she breathed heavily.

"No," Andre said. "We better move quickly, Vonce will have this temple crawling with his men by the time he hears what happened."

They quickly ran out of the room, prepared to find their friends.

*************************************************************

Kurt fell weakly to the floor when Hennin released his grip on him. He had been tortured after Kitty had been. Vonce stood over him and looked at the burnt fur on the blue mutant's back.

"I trust you're finding just being alive to be sweet right now," Vonce said.

Kurt wanted to break the man's neck, but he was still right. Just laying on the floor felt very good right now. Anything would have felt better than what had happened to him.

Vonce and Hennin had held him over a tub full of flame. It felt agonizing. He was surprised that he remained conscious during the whole thing.

Hennin turned to the other five X-Men. He had allowed Jean to be unchained so she could hold Kitty as the young prep leaned helplessly against her.

"Which one of you shale be next," he asked them.

Suddenly, the man that had been fighting Rogue and Andre cam barging into the chamber. He had lost so much blood and he struggled to breathe.

"What happened," Vonce asked. Behind him the X-Men showed a small amount of hope.

The man spoke, struggling as he talked, "the Puppet Master and his sister we tried to capture them They had brought the puppets that the first Toulon had made years ago. They killed five mean already.

Vonce was angry at this news. "Do you know where they are now," he asked the man.

Before he could speak again he fell to the floor, dead from the loss of blood. Vonce stood over him and said, "Hennin, get two of my men to tend to this man properly. And then have the others search the castle. I want all the intruders alive."

Hennin nodded and left the torture chamber. Kurt took a few deep breaths and said, "it looks like our friends are more than you bargained for."

He kicked Kurt in the stomach and chained him back up to the wall. He then grabbed a dagger and held it up to Jean's neck and said, "get on the table."

Jean's eyes turned wide. She left Kitty's side and was guided to the table by the dagger. Vonce had her lay on the table and he strapped her down. Jean then began to be, "please don't torture me. Please."

Vonce said, "oh relax girl, you won't feel any pain. I'm Just using you as bait to trap two intruders."


	12. Fighting Alone

Author's Notes: Thank you for reviewing. I will try to keep the story riveting. I only hope I don't get infected by the infernal writer's block.

*************************************************************

Fighting Alone

Jean struggled to release herself from the table. Vonce was completely out of sight and the other four X-Men were still chained to the wall.

Scott looked at his girl friend helplessly. If only Vonce had not made his powers inactive he might be able to save her. He never thought that he would actually want his powers if they had gone.

Jean tried a few more times to escape from her chains, but it was no use. "I can't get out," she said. "This is hopeless."

"Calm down Jean," Kitty said. "Rogue and Andre are still out there trying to save us."

Kurt turned to Kitty and said, "they can't come here. Remember Vonce is"

Before Kurt could finish his sentence a loud screech was heard coming from below. Jean's eyes became full of fear. She had heard that screech before.

All they X-Men turned and saw the three remaining Totems standing in the doorway of the torture chamber. 

Jean began to struggle with her restraints again as the three creatures began to walk over to her.

Suetek's special child jumped up onto the girl's chest. It looked her in the eyes.

Logan yanked on his chains and yelled, "hey, leave her alone you little bastard. If you hurt one hair on her head I swear I'll"

The voice of Suetek was then heard in the room cutting off Logan's threat. "I don't think you are in any position to give me orders."

The sound came from the Totem on Jean's chest. Suetek spoke again; "you and your friends have been allowed one of Toulon's kin to live in your home. The grand child of the man who stole the secrets of everlasting life from me. You also have helped the Puppet Master. In y view that means you all deserve to die."

The Totem then turned around and held its claws and the sides of Jean's head. It didn't claw her, nor do anything to shed blood. It just skipped to sucking out Jean's life energy.

Jean screamed as she felt the energy that kept her alive being sucked out of her. She was afraid she was going to die.

The door to the chamber then slammed open and there stood Andre and Rogue. Andre's eyes turned wide. He ran over to Jean and knocked the Totem off of her before she lost all her life energy.

The Totem slammed against the wall, but one the other two made their attack. It leapt onto Andre and dug its claws into his shoulders. The boy tried to get it off, but its claws kept the little monster from detaching from the boy. 

Rogue took off her gloves, forgetting that her powers had no affect on the Totems. She put them on a near by table and ran to help Andre. 

She grabbed hold of the Totem and pulled it off her brother. A small bit of blood came flying out of the boy's shoulders.

When Rogue couldn't feel her powers kick in she remembered that they didn't work on the Totems.

The creature scratched her above her eyebrow. She gave a yelp of pain and dropped the Totem. 

The creature stood up ready for another attack, but Pinhead and Six-shooter ran and grabbed both of the creature's arms. They slammed it against the side of the table that held Jean and kept if from running away. 

The other to Totems left the torture chamber.

Andre recovered from his attack and ran to Jean's side. He looked at her restraints and said, "damn it we need a key to open these shackles.

Logan said from behind Andre, "listen kid, you and Rogue gotta get out of here now."

"Not without you guys," Andre said as he began to search for the key.

Then Jean said, "no Andre you don't have time. Vonce is just using us as bait now."

"What," Andre said in surprise.

Rogue didn't here Jean's warning. She wiped the blood away from her eyebrow and went to get her gloves. When she got to the table they were gone.

She looked around the table and then said in a panicked voice, "where are mah gloves? They were right here."

Andre turned to Rogue and said, "we gotta leave now Rogue."

"Not without mah gloves," Rogue said even more panicked.

She then heard Vonce's voice say, "looking for these."

Rogue turned around and saw Vonce holding her gloves in his right hand. "Give those back, or Ah'll suck out your life force," Rogue said angrily to the cloaked man.

She began to run at Vonce with her hands reached out ready to knock him out with her powers, but Hennin came out from hiding and held a spear up to her neck. Then two more of Vonce's men came out from hiding and did the same. Rogue had three spears held up to her neck.

Andre turned and saw the spears around his sister. He held up his cane and said, "leave her alone."

As he began to charge at Vonce the cloaked man said, "take one more step and my men will shove those spears right into your sister's throat."

Andre stopped and put his cane back down by his side. Vonce then looked from him to the Totem that was held by Pinhead and Six-shooter.

"Well, what do we have here," Vonce said as he picked the little monster up. "Ah yes. One of Suetek's Totems."

He looked back at Andre and said, "you should thank me now. I'm doing you a favor."

The cloaked man held the Totem over the tub of flame. The creature struggled to escape its coming death. 

Vonce dropped the Totem into the fire. It jumped around in the flames and gave one final screech before burning to death.

Vonce then turned back to Andre and said, "now here is the deal young Puppet Master. If you tell me the formula for eternal life I will spare your sister's life."

Andre's eyes were full of rage, but his voice was calm when he spoke. "You're lying Vonce. I know you. As soon as I tell you the formula she's as good as dead."

"Oh trust me Toulon," said Vonce, "how do you know I won't let her live. She is at more risk if you don't tell me the formula."

Andre thought for a while. He looked at Rogue and saw the fear in her eyes. He wanted to save her, but he knew he couldn't tell Vonce the secret that he had kept for so long.

"Why do you want the formula Vonce," asked Andre. "Are you afraid of death?"

Vonce's voice sounded angry as he spoke. "I fear nothing."

"That's not true," said Andre, "every body fears something. Is death what you are afraid of?"

Vonce didn't speak. Andre smiled and said, "yes. You're afraid to die. I can see it."

"Shut up you son of a wench," said Vonce.

"I can see your nightmares," Andre said. "You're in the coffin as somebody's burying you. You are dead, but your mind is alive."

"Stop it," Vonce said.

He suddenly began to see himself in a coffin. He couldn't move, but he was still alive. "Stop this now Andre," he demanded.

"You want to scream, but you can't," said Andre, "because you are dead."

Vonce began to breathe heavily. His men stood around Rogue and watched as their leader began to shiver. They could not see what Andre was showing him.

Andre continued, "you can here the dirt pile on top of your coffin as your vision begins to fade. Your mind is dying now."

Vonce tried to speak again, but he couldn't, just like what happened in his nightmare.

Hennin's grip on his spear loosened. "My lord, are you alright?"

Rogue saw he opportunity. The men around her were too concerned for their leader to pay her any attention.

She slipped out from between the three spears. The three men saw her escape and tried to stab her, but the spears missed her body as she ran away from them. 

Andre and his puppets slipped through all the men and followed Rogue out of the torture chamber.

Vonce's nightmare disappeared from around him. He turned to his men and said, "after them, now!"

Andre and Rogue kept running through the hall. The puppets had managed to get only a few feet ahead of them.

Rogue could hear Vonce say from behind her, "there they are, get them."

The young Goth didn't even want to think about what the Hanzain Cult would do to them if they were caught.

Andre ran fast for a boy with a bad leg. He was only about a foot behind Rogue. He had learned long ago how to run with his cane. It was almost as if he had an extra leg.

Hennin and the rest of Vonce's men stayed with the two mutants. He tried as hard as he could to get a little closer to them. 

When he was sure he was close enough he raised his spear and threw it directly at Andre.

The spear flew clear through the air. Its sharp point went dead into the ankle of Andre's good leg. The boy gave out a grown of pain as he fell off balance. 

Rogue heard her brother grown and turned around to see what was wrong. Andre then fell right into Rogue. His face fell directly on her ungloved hand.

The Goth's powers immediately kicked in. The boy's life force, powers, and memories went right into Rogue. In no time at all Andre was unconscious. His hand went limp and his cane dropped to the floor.

Rogue watched as her brother fell to the floor. "Oh no," she said, "no, Andre wake up. We've gotta go now. Andre?"

Vonce and his men caught up to them. They stood around the girl as she hovered over the unconscious boy. 

"Ah, it looks as if you have done us a favor girl," Vonce said. "Thank you for incapacitating our prisoner."

Rogue stood up and held her hands out ready to touch who ever came near her brother first. "Ah won't let you anywhere near him," she said.

The puppets broke through the circle and stood near Rogue. Vonce only laughed and said, "you won't be able to protect him." He simply snapped his fingers and his mean held their spears up to the Goth.

Rogue said even louder, "Ah won't let you hurt mah brother."

"Well, I suggest you just stand aside," said Vonce, "you won't be able to protect him if you're dead."

Rogue knew he was right. If Vonce took Andre away now there was still a chance that she could save him. 

She stepped aside and two of Vonce's men grabbed Andre by the arms. Hennin kept his spear aimed at Rogue. Vonce looked at the unconscious Andre and said, "you know it's funny." He looked back at Rogue. "This is the second time you've been responsible for one of your family getting captured by us."

"What do you mean," Rogue asked, "Ah didn't knock him out on purpose."

"That is true," said Vonce, "but he wouldn't have been knocked out at all if it wasn't for your powers."

Rogue looked at Andre and back at Vonce. "What do you mean that this is the second time that Ah've been responsible for a member of mah family being captured by you," she asked.

"Well," Vonce said, "have you forgotten your dear father."

"What are you talking about," Rogue asked, "Andre said he sacrificed himself to save us. How can Ah be the reason for mah father's death?"

"You just answered your own question," said Vonce. "He only killed himself because of you. If you hadn't existed he would still be alive today."

Those words pierced Rogue's heart. "That's not true," she said.

Vonce said, "oh yes it is. Because of you, he had to sacrifice himself in order to keep you and the secret of Andre Toulon the first protected."

"Shut up," Rogue yelled.

Vonce laughed and said, "you should have seen his face when I killed him. He said to me that if ever I was to discover where you were hidden he begged for me to just take the formula and spare you. That was only moments before I skinned him alive."

"Stop it," Rogue yelled louder.

Vonce continued. "He screamed so loud when I ripped off the first shred of his flesh. He sounded so weak and helpless. Your mother reacted the same way when we did the same to her."

Rogue tried to sound confident when she spoke, but she couldn't help sounding defenseless. "Why are you telling me all this?" She couldn't prevent the tears from rolling down her face.

"I thought you knew," said Vonce, "I despise the Toulon family."

"WELL, AH HATE YOU WAY MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER HATE ME," Rogue screamed as the tears continued to fall. She put her face in her hands as she cried.

"Weak little girl," said Vonce, "full of grief. Why did Toulon ever think that you could follow his footsteps?

Rogue took her face out of her hands. "What's that suppose to mean," she asked.

Vonce said, "I don't understand why Andre Toulon the first thought that you were capable of protecting the secret and his puppets."

"Ah'm not suppose to be protecting the puppets," said Rogue, "they're Andre's responsibility. Ah'm just supposed to help him with it. At least that's what Ah thought."

"Oh you are way off girl," said Vonce, "these puppets are just as much your responsibility as they are your brother's. You are a member of the Toulon family, there for you were to protect the secret as well."

"Ah can't handle that," said Rogue, "Ah've got enough problems as it is."

"Oh, that is very true," said Vonce, "you have already proven that you can't handle this by letting your brother, the only other person who knows the secrets of your grandfather, get captured. You have brought only pain to those you care for. You are no good to anybody."

Rogue stood silently as tears rolled down her cheeks. She had thought before that she was no good to anybody, but this was the first time any one had said so to her face, and it hurt her.

"If you wish to try and save your brother you may," said Vonce, "but I doubt you will be able to."

Rogue still remained silent. Vonce commanded his followers to drag Andre away. The puppets did not prevent their master from being taken. They knew that if they did harm would come to their master. 

Vonce followed his men as they took dragged Andre down the hall. Hennin walked next to him. He looked back at Rogue who still stood with tears in her eyes. He turned back to Vonce and said, "may be we should take her with us. She is still a threat to us as long as she is still alive."

"No she isn't," said Vonce, "her spirit is broken. That is why I said all those things to her. I doubt she will be able to stop her tears."

Hennin smiled under the shadows of his hood. He chuckled to himself as Andre was taken away.

Rogue remained where she stood. She could not believe. After all this time of being with Andre and the puppets she only now discovered that she was suppose to protect the magic as well, and she had failed.

She backed into the wall of the temple and sat down. She then put her face in her hands and cried. She didn't sob or let out any wailing howls of sorrow, she just cried. He spirit was broken and she couldn't help, but weep.

The puppets stood around her. Blade walked up to her and placed his hook gently on her knee trying to console her. Rogue only said through her hands, "just go away."

Blade looked sadly to the ground. Then he and all the other puppets left Rogue alone in her sorrow.

*************************************************************

Andre had regained consciousness when Vonce's men had dragged him all the way to a round arena with a sand-covered floor.

He was thrown down into the sand as Vonce entered the arena. When Andre looked up he saw that the five captured X-Men were chained to the wall. The boy stood up, ignoring the pain in his left leg from the spear wound, and he looked at Vonce.

"You looked confused," Vonce said to him. "I can see it in your eyes. You are wondering where you are."

"Where's Rogue," Andre demanded.

Vonce said, "don't think your pathetic sister will be able to help you. I already broke her spirit. She won't be able to save you, or her friends now."

"Don't be so sure of that," said Andre angrily. 

Vonce walked towards the five X-Men. He looked directly into Kitty's eyes and grabbed her chin gently. "I have invited you five here to witness the revealing of the Toulon secret. You will watch as young Andre here spills his heart out in a very short time."

"Why did you want us here for that," Logan demanded.

"Because, I wanted it this way," said Vonce as he let go of Kitty's chin.

Vonce stood in front of Andre. Then Hennin and two of his other men stood beside him. "Do you wish to just tell the secret now," said Vonce, "and prevent yourself the agony."

Andre sounded calm when her spoke. "You can do what ever the hell you want to me, I won't reveal the secret. You can't make me betray my family."

"Very well," Vonce said.

He snapped his fingers and Hennin walked right up to Andre until he was in hi face. The heat of his brother made Andre sweat.

Then without warning Hennin punched the boy right in the gut. Andre knelt down a little from the blow. Then Hennin kneed him in the face.

Andre fell to the ground as blood began to drip from his mouth. When Hennin came at him again the boy shot up and punched him hard in the face. 

It was then that the other two of Vonce's followers ran up and grabbed both of Andre's arms. They threw him across the room. The boy his the rock wall hard and fell to the ground.

"Stand him up," Vonce commanded.

The two cloaked men lifted Andre up. Vonce looked him right in the eye and said, "do you wish to tell me the formula now?"

Andre spit blood right in Vonce's face and said, "go screw yourself."

Vonce gave and angry grunt and punched the boy in the stomach, and then punched him twice in the face.

Scott struggled with his chains and yelled, "leave him alone Vonce!"

Vonce grabbed the boy by the hair and said to Scott, "would you rather take his place?"

He punched Andre two more times and let him fall to the floor. "Stand up," Vonce demanded. Andre didn't move. "Come on stand up," Vonce said again as he kicked the boy in the gut.

Andre stood up quickly and punched Vonce in the face. Then he gave the cloaked man and upper cut in the jaw.

Vonce's men grabbed the boy and threw him against the wall again. Andre stood up as Vonce walked over to him.

Jean yelled from the side, "Vonce just leave him alone. He won't talk."

"Oh, but he will," said Vonce, "I can do this all night."

Andre wiped the blood off of his chin and said, "so can I."

*************************************************************

Rogue sat in the dark hall crying. She felt so helpless. She had practialy just met her brother and she let him get captured. She did not know what to do.

The puppets came back to her after giving her some time alone. Blade and Decapitron stood in front of the other puppets hoping Rogue had calmed down a little.

The Goth took her face out of her hands and saw the puppets looking at her. She wiped her tears away, but they were only replaced with more. "What are looking at," she asked the puppets in an angry voice. She was not mad at the puppets, but she was mad at herself.

Blade and Decapitron looked at each other and then back at Rogue. The other puppets seemed confused by Rogue's tone. Rogue then said, "stop looking at me like you're waiting for me to tell you what to do. Ah don't know what to do." 

She stood up. "Ah'm no Puppet Master. There's no way Ah can handle this. Stop looking to me for answers."

She turned away from the puppets and continued to cry. The puppets could feel her sorrow. They wanted to give her some consoling words, but sadly they couldn't speak.

Rogue continued to cry. Her weeping was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice. "Please do not cry child. I can not bear to see you this way."

Rogue knew that voice. She turned around and saw an old man in old beaten up clothing standing in front of her. She said, "you, you're that guy that was in mah dream."

The old man stepped forward and his face could be see clearly. He had a gray goatee and gray hair that stuck out the top of his head. "That is correct grand daughter," the old man said to her.

Rogue wiped away a tear and said in amazement, "grandpa Toulon."

"Yes," said the old man. The puppets surrounded their old master. They seemed very joyful when they saw him. 

Rogue took a few steps closer to the spirit of Andre Toulon the first. The original Puppet Master. "What are you doing here," she asked. This was the first time she had seen the spirit of Toulon and she didn't know how to react.

"Usually I speak through the Decapitron when I speak to others in this world," said Toulon, "but in this case I chose to come to you in my normal form, to try and help you grand daughter."

"So you know what's going on," asked Rogue.

"Yes," said Toulon, "I have been watching you ever since your brother found you."

Rogue looked sadly to the ground and said, "so you saw what happened with Andre."

The spirit only nodded. Rogue began to cry again. "Ah'm sorry grandpa. Ah didn't mean to knock Andre out. Now I let him get captured."

Toulon put his hand under Rogue's chin and made her face him. His skin felt cold, like wet cotton, but Rogue didn't mind it. Her powers didn't work on the specter. This was the first time she had ever touched some one, and it was her own grandfather.

Toulon looked at her and said gently, "don't blame yourself for what happened to your brother. Vonce has a way of weakening people by filling them with grief in order to break their spirit. And that is just what he did with you."

He took his hand off of Rogue's chin and the Goth asked, "so he was lying about very thing he said to me?"

Toulon paused and said, "well, he did lie when he said that you were responsible for your fathers death. But when he said that it was also your responsibility to protect the magic, he spoke the truth."

Rogue turned away from him. "I wish he was lying about that," she said as she sat back down where she had been crying. 

"Why is that," asked Toulon.

"Because Ah've already got enough problems. Mah powers make it was Ah can't touch anybody. Ah just recently let loose Apocalypse, one of the most evil and powerful mutants ever. Not to mention Ah recently found out that Mystique is mah foster mother."

The old Puppet Master sat by Rogue. "You know she was instructed to tell you all about the puppets long ago," he said.

"Yeah," said Rogue, "Ah already got that little tidbit of information I can't handle this responsibility."

Toulon gave a little snicker and said, "when you say that you remind me of someone who thought the same way you did when he received the magic. He was younger than you."

Rogue looked at him and said, "let me guess. It was you right."

"No," said Toulon, "I was older than you when I obtained the power. I am talking about your brother."

"Andre," asked Rogue.

Toulon nodded and said, "yes. I'm sure he told you that Vonce killed his foster parents when he was only six years old. After that had happened I knew I had no choice, but to teach him of the magic then. There was nothing else I could do. Mystique had taken you away with out my knowledge and I didn't know how long it would take to find you. If Mystique didn't leave with you I would have left my grandson with both of you, but sadly that was not the case. So I had to teach him the magic, and he spent the rest of his childhood hiding, which is not life for a child."

"You sound pretty unhappy about that," said Rogue.

"Yes I am," said Toulon. "After your father was killed I wanted you both to be left somewhere where you could live like normal children. I wanted you each to have a childhood before I taught you the magic. When your brother's foster parents were killed I had this six year old child who wanted nothing more then to play with other children, and I had to take away all that I wanted him to have. After only a few months he had completely forgot how to be a child. Right now he doesn't even know how to be a child of your age."

"You mean he doesn't know how to be a teenager," Rogue asked. Her grandfather just shook his head. Rogue spoke again, "so he doesn't know what its like to go out and eat pizza with a bunch of his friends, or go to some party or dance and just have fun."

"No," said the specter.

Rogue felt sad for her brother. She didn't really get out of the institute much, but she some what knew how all that stuff was like.

Toulon then said, "he took the whole thing very well from the start. He never whined, he never cried, he did complain on occasions, but that was very rare. He guarded both the puppets and the secret well."

Rogue sat silently for a few seconds and then said, "so your saying that if Andre can put up with all the crap that he did then Ah should be able to."

"What I am say granddaughter," said Toulon, "is that Andre has a strong will that you have as well. Using that will you can handle the responsibility of the magic. I believe you can. And I will be with you every step of the way Puppet Master."

Rogue felt touched when her grand father had called her Puppet Master, the honorary name of the Toulon family. "But what about Andre," she asked, "Vonce is gonna torture him until he tell about the formula."

Toulon stood up and said, "I wouldn't worry about that. Andre would die before revealing the secrets of the formula to anybody."

Rogue stood up and sounded alarmed when she spoke. "Ah don't want that to happen. Ah'd rather have Andre tell him the magic then to have him die."

"Relax," said Toulon, "Vonce knows that if your brother does die he will never get the formula. He will not take that chance. All Andre has to do is hold out long enough until Vonce sees he won't get any information out of him. He will stop the tortures temporarily and by you some time. Now if you will excuse me grand daughter, I must leave you now, but I will still be partially with you."

Andre Toulon the first began to slowly banish. Rogue waved goodbye to him and then stopped. "Grandpa wait," she said before the spirit disappeared. She paused for a while and said quietly, "thank you grandpa Toulon."

She looked back down at the puppets. They all seemed sad to see their old master leave. "You guys were really close to him weren't you," she asked them.

They all nodded. Rogue looked back at where the spirit was. She thought to herself, 'Ah can do this.' She turned back to the puppets and said, "well this ain't no time to get emotional. We gotta save Andre."

The puppets quickly changed from their saddened state and looked like they were ready to fight. They ran down the hall with blade leading the way. Rogue chased after them. Ready to help her brother.


	13. The Coven

Author's Notes: Thanks to all who reviewed. Sorry it took so long to upload this chapter. I've been busy.

*************************************************************

The Coven 

Andre fell to his knees. It was to hard for him to keep his balance without his cane. He had been receiving his beating for almost an hour. Blood dripped from his mouth, his stomach ached some much from all the blows to it and it was covered with bruises. His whole body was in pain, but he kept his mouth shut, even though he was barely alive.

"Get up," Hennin said as he pulled the boy to his feet. 

Andre gave him one good punch in the face. The cloaked man fell back a few feet, but immediately stood back up and punched Andre again.

As the fist made contact something flew out of Andre's mouth. It went flying across the room and hit Kitty right in the face. It fell to the floor as Kitty felt a small drop of blood on her face. She looked to the ground to see what hit her. She let a cry of disgust when she saw one of Andre's teeth near her feet.

Vonce watched the beating. He saw Andre struggling to breathe through his bleeding mouth. He knew that if Andre didn't reveal the secret soon he would die. Vonce could not take that chance.

"That's enough for now," he said in a commanding voice, as Hennin was about to go in for another hit.

Vonce had the other two men pick Andre up. "Take them all back to the cell."

They did as commanded starting with Andre. They would come back for the others after he was secured. 

Vonce walked over to Hennin. Logan listened to the conversation as they spoke. "Hennin I want you to collect a few of the women and have them create some truth elixir. It looks like that will be the only way to get any information out of Andre."

"But sir," said Hennin, "you know if we have him drink that serum he might die. It has happened before."

"We have no other choice," said Vonce, "I know the liquid is a dangerous substance, but there is only a fifty percent chance that he will die. Those odds are even less then him dying during our tortures. If we torment him any longer he will be dead before morning. I would rather take a chance that he is less likely to die from. I need the formula."

"I see your point," said Hennin, "I will do as you wish sir."

Five of Vonce's men entered the chamber. "Sir we were sent by the guards to transport the other prisoners to the cell while they take Andre there," one of them said.

"Very well," said Vonce.

The five cloaked men took the chains off the imprisoned X-Men. Logan fought with them the all the way to the cell, but he could not escape. When they were at the cell he was instantly chained to the wall.

Andre was already in the cell. He lied on the ground as he tried to recover from his beating. As the cell door was closed Kitty and Kurt ran to his side.

"Are you alright," Kurt asked as he looked at the boy's bleeding mouth.

"My God it's hard to breathe," was all Andre said.

Jean and Scott walked over to him and propped him up against the back wall of the cell. Scott looked around the room and saw a tray with food and water for all of them near the cell door.

He quickly grabbed the cup of water and gave it to Andre. "Here drink this," he said as he handed it to him.

Andre grabbed the cup and took a sip of water. He spit it right back out to get some of the blood out of his mouth. "I think I lost on of my back teeth," Andre said before taking another sip of water.

"You did," said Kitty, "I saw it fly out of your mouth. It was like, so gross."

Logan stopped fighting with the chains and said, "you took quite a beating back there kid. I never saw anything like that before."

"Well, I had no choice, but to take the punches," Andre said. "I can't reveal the formula to Vonce. I'll do what ever I can to keep the secret safe, if that means dealing with hard hits, then I'll deal with hard hits."

Logan sighed and said, "well, I don't think you'll be able to keep that secret for long." Andre looked at him curiously. "Vonce said he was gonna have some sort of truth potion on you."

Andre looked up at the ceiling of the cell and said, "damn it." 

He knew exactly what Logan was talking about. 

Logan then said, "I heard Vonce's buddy, what ever his name is, say that he's worried this truth stuff might kill you before you reveal the formula. Why is that?"

Andre shook his head and said, "the truth formula is made of many different herbs and plants. There are two ingredients that really make it affective. Poison hemlock and rattle snakes venom. The reason for those to poisons is to make me somewhat delirious I guess. My brain will be so screwed up that I won't be able to hold back anything. The answer to what ever they ask me will come spilling passed my teeth. They do have an antidote for the whole concoction, but if it's not given to me after a curtain amount of time then I'm dead."

Kitty looked sadly to the ground. Andre was Rogue's brother and now it looked like he was going to die, or tell the formula that he has tried so hard to keep.

"Is there any chance of you not revealing the formula and you will still live."

Andre said, "there is a slight chance. If I can hold back the secret for long enough Vonce might get worried that my death is near and he will give me the antidote. He won't take a big risk of killing me. If I die then the formula dies with me. But the chances of me not telling the ingredients to the formula is very slim."

"But there is still hope that we'll get out of here right," asked Kurt, "Rogue is still out there."

"That's true," said Andre, "but if Vonce learns the formula before Rogue can free us then all is lost. If Vonce knows the formula the Hanzain Cult will march all over the face of the Earth. And they will never die." 

*************************************************************

Rogue and the puppets moved slowly and stealthily through the castle. They had already been to the torture chamber and found that the X-Men and Andre were not there.

Rogue found it hard to find her way around the temple. It was like a giant maze. Corridors lead this way and that way. 

She stopped to catch her breath as she turned another corner. "Wait didn't we just go down this hall," she asked herself as the puppets looked at the repeating designs on the walls. "How the hell does anyone find their way around here."

As she began to move again she heard a door close ahead of her. She backed away into a corner as she saw a cloaked figure step out of a room a few yards away from where she hid. This one was different from the other Hanzain members she had seen. This one had red trim on the hood and sleeves of his cloak.

As the figure moved through the halls Rogue followed close behind with the puppets at her side. The halls twisted and turned so much that they almost lost who ever they were following. 

Rogue stopped at a corner when the figure entered another room. As the door opened she heard a feminine voice say, "come in Elmara."

'Elmara,' Rogue thought. 

She left her corner and stood beside the now closed door. She turned to the puppets and said, "Tunneler Ah want you Jester to keep watch. If you see anyone coming let me know."

The two puppets nodded and headed for the opposite sides of the hall. 

Rogue opened the door of the room and opened it a crack. She looked in and saw three cloaked figures with red trim. 

They all stood around a cauldron as each one put something in it one at a time.

"Elmara," one of them said in a feminine voice, "did you get the hemlock."

"Yes Mirila," said Elmara also in a feminine voice.

Rogue then realized that these were not men. They were female members of the Hanzain Cult. The red trim was to help tell the difference between the two.

Rogue watched and listened as the women spoke. "So who is the poor fool that is receiving this batch of truth elixir," asked the third woman.

"It is for the Puppet Master Ritishne," said Mirila.

Elmara spoke in a voice of shock. "He has finally been captured."

"Yes," said Mirila, "I am very surprised that lord Vonce is willing to risk the boys life to get the formula. Hennin had told me that this was the only choice. They tried beating it out of him. They nearly killed him, and he still managed to keep the secret."

"How did they capture him," asked Ritishne.

Mirila smiled behind the shadows of her hood. "Lord Vonce kidnapped some friends of the young Puppet Master's sister. He brought her along to save them and she accidentally knocked the boy out with her mutant ability."

Rogue's heart sank when she heard the woman say that. She knew that it was not her fault Andre got captured, but she was saddened when she heard he had been beaten.

She tried to shake the feeling off and began listening to the women again. "When Hennin came down to give me the good news he gave me this."

Mirila held out a cane with a silver rattle snakes head on it. "Andre's cane," Rogue said to herself as she saw what was in the woman's hand.

"Did you hear that," Elmara asked as she looked towards the door. Rogue put her hand over her mouth as she slipped out of view.

Elmara shrugged and went back to he business. Ritishne turned to a small table and picked up an empty jar covered with a small thin peace of deerskin. "The elixir is almost complete. Only one ingredient remains."

She reached behind the table. Rogue watched from the door as she heard the sound of rattle. 

Ritishne pulled a live rattlesnake out from behind the table. It squirmed around in her hands and rattled its tail. 

Ritishne reached out and began slowly stroking the snake's head. The rattle on the slithery reptile stopped and the snake looked humble, like a cat sleeping in a beam of sunlight.

The empty jar was held up to the snake and it willingly began to bit down on the deerskin that was over the opening. The venom dripped from the fangs. The snake kept biting until he was pulled away from the jar.

Ritishne gently stroked the snake and put it back behind the table. She handed it to Mirila who then poured it into the cauldron.

All three of the women stood around the cauldron. Mirila began to wave Andre's cane over the substance boiling above the fire. Then the three women began to chant.

__

Oh spirits of darkness hear our cries

Show the secrets this boy hides.

Oh spirits of darkness hear our cries

Show the secrets this boy hides.

Oh spirits of darkness hear our cries

Show the secrets this boy hides.

They said these words over and over again until the liquid and Andre's cane began to glow bright green. However the women continued to chant.

The light from the cauldron was so bright it nearly blinded Rogue. She turned away and let the vision in her eyes come back.

The women stopped chanting. "It is ready," said Mirila.

She put Andre's cane down and picked up a small vial. She quickly put a little of the potion in it. "What do we do with the rest of it," asked Elmara.

"We will save it for any other poor sole that won't reveal what we need to know," said Mirila.

All the women headed for the door. Rogue ran to the other side of it and put herself flat against the wall. When the door opened it hid her perfectly. The puppets had already hid before the women opened the door.

The three women headed off to give Vonce the truth serum. Rogue came out from behind the door. She saw Blade and Six-shooter come out from hiding. "Just stay there," she told them, "Ah'll be right back."

She entered the chamber. On every table in there sat many vials and bottles. Rogue picked one up and read it out loud to herself. "The blood of a Hangman's son." 

She quickly put the bottle down with a disgusted look on her face. She then quickly looked around the room for Andre's cane. 

Sure enough the women left it there. Rogue saw it leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. She quickly went over to it and grabbed it. "Andre will be happy to see this thing again," she said to herself as she headed for the door.

She stopped after she passed a large vial full of a strange red substance. She looked at the vial and noticed three syringes next to it.

There was a large label on the back of the vial. The letters on it form some sort of message from Vonce to the women that were just in here. Rogue tried to read it, but the words we somewhat faded. "Ladies Ah have sent this vial to you hoping that you will guard it well. Ah am off to the town of Bayeville to take care of some business that is of great importance. This mission of mahne will require the capture of a mutant known only as Rogue. Why she is needed is mah business alone. This is the antidote for the powder that renders a mutant's X-genus inactive and Ah'm sure that if she is captured her friends will try to retrieve this substance. Guard it well."

Rogue's eyes turned wide. So this was the antidote for the stuff that deactivated the other X-Men's powers. That powder was not meant for them it was meant for her incase Vonce ran into her. So if she were captured Vonce would tell Andre and he would have to have come here any way.

Rogue reached out for the substance. Her hand stopped as she heard a voice behind her say, "what do we have here?"

The Goth turned around and saw the three women standing behind her. They all held daggers in each hand.

Ritishne looked at the pail girl and said, "well, you must be the Puppet Master's sister."

Rogue held Andre's cane up ready to fight. Elmara laughed and said, "do you really thing that piece of wood will stand a chance against six daggers?"

Rogue just gave them an angry look. She called to the puppets; "guys get in here!"

"They can't help you," said Mirila, "they can't even get in."

Rogue could hear the sound of small fists banging near the bottom of the door. 

The door had been locked. All the puppets were banging against it.

Rogue began to back away from the women. The three of them took a step forward with every step she took back.

Mirila crossed her daggers so they formed a scissors shape. She sliced them about an inch away from Rogue's neck.

The Goth hit the blades away from her, but Mirila kept her grip on them. She kept her blades pointing at the young girl's neck.

Rogue kept stepping backwards until she bumped against the cauldron. She looked down at it and then back to the women. A sly smile formed on her face.

She pun around and kicked the cauldron. The boiling liquid flew out and splashed right onto the cloaked women. 

They backed away as Rogue ran up and hit Elmara in the face with the cane. 

She fell to the floor and Rogue jammed the point of the cane into her gut. A small bit of blood was on the cane as it came out.

Mirila ran at Rogue. She pinned her against the wall and punched her in the face. 

Rogue's powers kicked in. She sucked all the energy out of Mirila, and all of her memories. Rogue saw the layout of the temple in the woman's head. She could find her way around the temple now. That is if she can get out of this room.

Mirila fell unconscious to the floor. Rogue put her hand on where the fist mad contact.

She looked across the room and saw Ritishne standing with her daggers in hand. Rogue held up the cane.

Ritishne looked at her daggers. She then dropped them on the floor and looked at Rogue. "No," she said, "I want use these to kill you. I want your death to be long and slow."

She reached behind a table and pulled out a small cage that the rattlesnake was in. She opened it up and grabbed the snake so it was in a striking position, and facing Rogue.

Ritishne took only a few steps over to Rogue. The snake stroke once at the Goth and missed her by inches. 

Rogue swung the cane at Ritishne and missed as well. The rattlesnake struck once again.

Rogue and Ritishne circled each other around the room. The snake kept striking at Rogue and barely missing her. She wondered how many more strikes she could avoid before she was pumped with snake venom. 

"What's the matter child," asked Ritishne, "are you afraid of a little snake bite?"

The snake struck again. "Why the hell do you want me to suffer when Ah die," Rogue asked trying her best to keep her distance.

The snake struck again. Ritishne said, "suffering is beautiful in our eyes. And watching our enemies suffer is even sweeter."

The snake struck once again. It's mouth grazed Rogue's hair, but it's teeth did not make contact. "You people are twisted," said Rogue, "pain is not something to enjoy."

"Oh but you are wrong," said Ritishne, "pain is sheer pleasure. You must learn how to do so. If you surrender to it, it is the most pleasant thing you will ever feel."

Rogue looked at the door behind Ritishne. The handle began to move slightly.

Outside Pinhead and Six-shooter were on each other's shoulders as they held Blade up. He picked the lock of the door as they swayed back and forth.

With a few more jiggles of the knife the door was unlocked. Tunneler and Jester pushed the door open and saw Ritishne holding the snake near Rogue.

Ritishne looked over to the puppets.

Blade and Six-shooter jumped off of Pinhead. Six-shooter pulled out all six of his guns.

Ritishne looked at the small puppet. "What are those little toys going to do to me," she said confidant that nothing would happen to her.

Six-shooter gave out a menacing cackle and fired all six of his guns at the woman. She fell dead to the floor with her hand clamped around the snake.

Rogue gave a sigh of relief and sarcastically, "perfect timing."

Six-shooter spun his guns around before putting them in their holsters again.

Rogue walked back over to the table that she saw the antidote on before the women attacked her.

She filled the three syringes with the red liquid and slid them into her boots. She then picked up the large vial they were in and said, "Jester take this."

Jester did as he was told. He held the vial in his arms and did not have any difficulty holding it.

Rogue began to walk to the door. As she did something hit her leg and she fell to the floor.

She looked up and saw Mirila standing over her. She had her dagger in her hand her hood was down. She looked almost exactly like the woman that Andre and Rogue saw when they tried to find the Hanzain Temple.

Mirila said, "you killed tow of my sisters. And for that you must die."

She raised the dagger in the air. Just as she was about to slam it down on Rogue she heard a grunt coming form the door.

All the puppets were in the room now. Torched stood in front of them and held out his flame-thrower. 

He released a burst of flame right at Mirila. The fire enveloped her.

She thrashed around trying to put the fire out. Soon she fell dead to the floor.

Rogue stood back up and looked at the puppets. Torch put his flame down. 

"Alright," said Rogue, "from now on you guys are coming in every room with me."

The puppets all nodded at her.

They all continued their search for young Andre. Sadly they did no know the formula would soon be revealed.


	14. Dueling Hennin

Author's notes: Thank you for the reviews. I am glad that you like this story.

*************************************************************

Dueling Hennin

Andre had been strapped to a chair as Vonce retrieved the truth serum. Once again the five captured X-Men were chained in the room forced to watch what will happen to Andre. The only Hanzain cult members in the room were Vonce and Hennin. Two guard waited outside the door incase of any problems.

They watched as Vonce held the vial in front of Andre's face. "This fluid," he said, "is your betrayal to the Toulon family."

The boy gave him an angry glance and said, "I'll kill you before you can even reveal it to you men."

"What makes you think I will reveal it to my followers," said Vonce. "Hennin an I will be the only members of the Hanzain to know the formula. We only plan to make my men immortal not to teach them the formula."

The five X-Men chained to separate pillars around them narrowed their eyes at Vonce. He was a very twisted man, but he was not stupid. He knew that if his men knew the formula they would not have to depend on him as much any more, and they might turn on him to get the precious fluid.

"Now," said Vonce, "let us get this over with."

Hennin stood behind Andre and clamped his hands both on his upper and lower jaw. He forced his fingers into the boys mouth an opened it wide. 

Vonce held the vial over Andre's mouth and poured some in. Hennin let go of the boy's mouth.

Andre bent his head down weakly as Vonce stepped a few feet closer to him. Andre lifted his head and spit the fluid into the cloaked man's face.

Vonce brushed it off and punched Andre twice in the stomach. "Do not bother spitting it out," he said. "We have plenty more where this came from."

They did not even give Andre a chance to breathe. Hennin opened the boy's mouth again and Vonce poured the liquid in, however this time Vonce held the boy's mouth shut as Hennin step away.

Andre struggled with the man trying to spit out the fluid, but Vonce pushed his thumb against the boy's Adams apple, forcing him to swallow.

Vonce took his hands away from Andre's mouth. The boy coughed and gagged as he felt himself getting drowsy.

He tried to fight the truth serum, but the stuff was too strong. His head bowed low as his eyes began to close.

Scott yelled from the pillar he was chained to. "Stay awake Andre, don't give in."

Vonce turned around and punched him dead in the face. He then turned back to Andre who had finally nodded off.

"We must make this quick," he said before one of his men came in.

"Lord Vonce," he said, "we have a bit off a problem."

"What is it Anole," Vonce asked the man rather annoyed.

"The boy's sister is still lurking around," Anole said. "The puppets and she killed the three women that made the truth serum and they've still managed to stay hidden from us."

Vonce was infuriated. "Damn it! Damn it all!"

"They will be heading up here now," said Hennin. "If they arrive before we get the formula the boy may die while we're dealing with her."

Vonce looked towards Anole. "Go and assemble all my men. Hunt the girl Rogue down. I want that mutant crushed."

"No," said Hennin, "don't send the men after her."

Vonce looked at him disapprovingly through the shadows of his hood. Hennin spoke again, "if you send all our men marching around the temple she will surely hear them and no something is wrong. Then she might hide with the puppets until they stop looking."

"Then what do you propose we do," asked Vonce.

Hennin said willingly, "I will go and get the girl. I assure you that by the time you get the formula out of the boy she will be dead."

"Very well," Vonce said approvingly.

Hennin left the room.

Vonce took out a peace of flat slat and block coal. These were what the Hanzain Cult used to write.

He handed the items to Anole and said, "write down what ever comes out of the boys mouth. We must make haste, I have wasted to much time already."

Anole took the coal and slate. Vonce looked at Andre who simple sat in his somewhat unconscious state. 

"Now," Vonce said, "tell me the formula that you grandfather discovered."

The five X-Men watched hoping that Andre would be able to hold back his words. Kitty began to say quietly to herself, "don't tell him anything, don't tell him anything," over and over again.

Vonce heard he speak, but ignored her.

Andre's mouth opened, but his eyes remained close. He spoke lightly. "The formula that gives life must be done with extreme accuracy. All the ingredients must be the exact amount as instructed."

Andre began to tell Vonce the formula. The five imprisoned X-Men looked sadly at Andre. The formula that he tried so hard to keep was slowly being revealed.

*************************************************************

The puppets followed Rogue now. She had learned her way around the temple from when she absorbed Mirila's thoughts. She now knew her way around the temple, and exactly where Andre was being held.

She the only weapon she had with her was Andre's cane. She was happy that she had the cane. Since her gloves were stolen the only weapon she had was her hands, but now she did not have to worry about her powers being her only defense. However she still wished she had her gloves.

The puppets followed close by her heels. They stopped however when they saw Rogue's feet stop.

Blade and Pinhead walked in front of Rogue to see what was wrong. There were three doors in front of Rogue. 

The Goth searched through the thoughts of Mirila to try and find which door to enter. She keep saying to herself, "which door, which door, which."

After a few minutes she looked towards the one on the right and said, "that one."

The puppets followed her over to the door. She was about to grab the latch when it began to turn.

Rogue and the puppets backed away. Torched aimed his flame-thrower and Six-shooter aimed his guns.

Pinhead and Blade stood by Rogue in a fighting position while Decapitron stood a few feet to the side ready to fire his electric volts. 

The door swung open and there stood Hennin holding a sword in each hand. He took two steps towards Rogue and stopped.

The pale girl stood and looked at the man. "You," she said, "Ah know you. You're that guy that was with Vonce when he captured Andre. You're that Hennin guy."

"Very perceptive you young one," he said not moving from where he stood.

"What the hell are you doing here," Rogue asked angrily.

"I have been looking for you," the cloaked man said, "We have no use for your brother anymore. Now you are the number one priority."

"Why," Rogue asked, "Ah thought getting the formula was your number one priority?"

Hennin smiled behind the shadows of his hood and said, "that was true. But there is no point in that now. Your brother's dead."

Both Rogue and the puppets we shocked by his statement. Rogue's eyes filled with despair. She looked at Hennin and said, "you're lying."

"Oh are you so curtain of that," said Hennin.

"You wouldn't have killed him until you learned the formula," Rogue said trying to hold back her rage.

"We already have," said Hennin, "your brother told us the formula as soon as we gave him the truth serum. After that he was of no use to us. We killed him the same way that we killed your parents."

Rogue tried not to cry. She almost never cried in front of an enemy. She had a feeling that Hennin was lying to her, but was not quite sure. What if Hennin was telling the truth? 

"Well are you going to say something or just stand there in a pit of your own sorrow," Hennin asked very coldly.

Rogue's eyes filled up with rage as she said, "Torch fry him."

Torch was about to let out his flame, but stopped when he heard Hennin say, "you try and make one attack at me you had better hope you don't miss. For if you do I will go strait to Vonce and tell him to kill those five mutants that we kidnapped earlier."

Rogue held her hand up as a command for all the puppets to get out of their attack positions. "They're still alive," she asked. She figured that the Hanzain cult would just assume kill her friends if they got the formula."

"Yes," said Hennin. "If you want to live to save them and if you want to avenge the death of your precious Andre, then you will duel me."

He threw the sword so it landed near Rogue's feet. He then said, "I will only fight you on one condition. The puppets will not get involved."

Rogue looked down at the sword. She knelt down and picked it up. "All right," she said looking at Vonce.

Gave Andre's cane to the puppets. "If Ah loose the duel," she said to them, "Ah want you to try your best to save mah friends."

The puppets all nodded in agreement.

Rogue faced Hennin with the end of her sword pointing directly for the man's heart. If he was telling the truth about her brother, Rogue wanted him to pay.

They began to circle each other. Each one eyeing the other waiting to defend.

Rogue pushed her sword forward towards Hennin's chest, but the cloaked man swiftly blocked the attack.

Rogue swung her sword at him, but he grabbed her arm with his free hand. He jammed his sword into the ground and used both his hands to throw Rogue across the room. 

She hit the wall hard, but she stood back up. The puppets began to cheer for her with loud grunts, hisses, and cackles. 

Hennin came at Rogue slashing his long blade forward. Rogue rolled to the side as Hennin's sword hit the wall so hard it made sparks.

Rogue stood back to her feet. Hennin came at her letting out a barrage attacks with his sword.

Rogue managed to block ever one of them. She was surprised how well she was fighting. She had never fought with a sword before.

After a few more defends Rogue spun around behind Hennin and hit him in the back of the head with the handle of her sword.

The cloaked man fell forward a little, but then swung his sword back at Rogue. The very tip of the blade slid right against her thigh. She gave a quick yelp of pain as she fell back to the wall.

The cut was not that deep, but it was enough to make her bleed. Warm blood began to dribble down her leg.

"A simple cut and you're already near giving up," Hennin said.

"Ah won't give up," Rogue said.

She quickly ran forward and swung her blade. Th sword swung clean at Hennin cutting his shoulder. Rogue said, "one cut for me, one cut for you. Now we're even."

Hennin ignored the red liquid dripping down his arm.

He ran at Rogue. She tried to dodge his attack, but Hennin grabbed her shoulder and pushed her up against the wall. 

Hennin held his sword right up to her neck. "I owe you an unpleasant death," he said, "but I believe this will have to do."

Before he could slit Rogue's throat she quickly grabbed his hidden face with her ungloved hand. 

Her powers kicked in. She began to absorb Hennin's strength and memories. In no time she saw the image of Andre tied to a chair in the room that Hennin left only a few minutes ago. He was not dead, just unconscious.

Hennin pulled himself away from the young Goth. For some strange reason he did not fall unconscious, He just seemed very angry.

Rogue got off the wall and said, "You're thoughts are in mah head now Hennin. Ah know you lied to me now. Andre's not dead, he's just knocked out."

"Very true," said Hennin, "but the bad news for you is that he is revealing the formula to lord Vonce right now."

Rogue held her sword up and said, "it doesn't matter. Ah'll kill him before he gets a chance to use it."

"The only thing you will be doing is bleeding to death," said Hennin before going in for another attack.

The puppets watched the duel. They wanted so much to go in and help Rogue, now that they knew their master was alive, but still they could not. They wanted Rogue to kill Hennin herself.

Rogue kept on blocking Hennin's blows. Her powers normally at least weakened her opponents, but Hennin seemed to be fighting harder. 

With one flick of his wrist the cloaked man knocked Rogue's sword out of her hands. Rogue watched her sword fly out of her hands and land far away from her.

Hennin pushed his blade forward into Rogue's shoulder. He kept moving forward until the point of the sword came out the other side and into the wall.

Rogue screamed in pain. She had never felt something so agonizing before in her life. She held the wound around the sword.

Hennin walked over and picked up Rogue's sword on the other side of the corridor. 

He then faced the young Goth. Tears were running down her face from the immense pain. 

Hennin simply chuckled and said, "look at you. Weeping over that peace of torn flesh you have there. If you could only let the pain flow through you and feel have refreshing it can be you would not cry."

Hennin cut his hand with the blade he held. "Shut up," said Rogue trying not to show any fear.

"You failed girl," said Hennin. "Your brother will have revealed the formula soon and then he will be killed. The Toulon family will be extinct."

Rogue said nothing. She just tried to pull the blade out of her shoulder. 

"Don't bother," Hennin said, "your death comes now."

It was at this moment that the puppets could not hold back anymore. Tunneler started up his drill and ran right for Hennin's leg. 

The man fell to his knees and looked at the puppets as they surrounded him. "You were not suppose to get involved," he said angrily.

The puppets did not care. They were not about to let Rogue die. She was their master also.

Rogue pulled the sword out of her shoulder. Hennin was about to throw his sword at the girl, but Pinhead grabbed his arm that held the sword and pulled it down to Blade. Blade then cut off three off the man's fingers causing him to drop his sword.

Hennin looked at Rogue. The Goth lunged forward stabbing her sword right into the cloaked man's chest.

Hennin gasped and looked at Rogue. He tried to say something to her, but all that came out was a cough. 

He fell to the floor. His eyes closed and they never opened again.

Rogue pulled her sword out of the dead man. She knelt on the floor holding her bleeding shoulder. 

Blade held out his knife hand and had Torch light up his flame so only a little flicker of fire showed. He heated up his knife and then began to rub it against both the wounds on Rogue's shoulder.

Rogue cried in pain and backed away from the puppets yelling, "what the hell are you doing?!"

She felt her shoulder wounds and discovered that they were not bleeding anymore. Blade had cauterized her wounds.

She would have thanked the puppets, but her shoulder hurt too much. She knelt down waiting for the pain to go down before going to help her friends and her brother.

*************************************************************

Vonce stood listening to every word that came out of Andre's mouth. The formula was almost completely revealed. The five captured X-Men listened as well. They could not help but listen.

Andre was breathing heavily. The poisons that were in the truth serum were taking affect.

Anole who was still righting said, "lord Vonce, maybe we should give him the antidote and get the rest of the formula later."

"No," Vonce said, "we get it all now."

Logan struggled with his chains and said, "just give him the antidote now, or he'll die."

"Shut up," Vonce yelled.

Andre continued saying the ingredients of the formula. "The last ingredient is the most important. You must use the digeneral lobes of a human being."

"Digeneral lobes," Vonce asked.

"Yes," said Andre, "they are the key to the formula. The digeneral lobes exist in the human brain. It is right were the spinal cord meets the brain."

"Very well," said Vonce. He turned to Anole and asked, "did you get every thing?"

Anole only nodded.

Andre said in his unconscious state, "there's one more thing. And it's very important. If you wish to transfer into another body, you will need eight digeneral lobes. And it works best when you use fresh human material. The brains from animals and the already rotting dead work ok, but digeneral lobes from freshly killed people works best for more efficient life." 

Vonce said, "alright. We need fresh brains from humans."

He took out a small syringe containing the antidote for the truth serum. He poked the needle into Andre's neck and injected the substance into him. 

In a few seconds Andre came back to full consciousness. He looked around the room and saw the saddened look on the faces of the five imprisoned X-men and knew right away what her had done. He looked shamefully to the ground.

Vonce called to his guards outside the door. They entered the room and awaited their leader's orders.

Vonce said, "I want you to go down to the barracks and bring me eight of my men. I do not care witch ones you chose. Just bring me eight."

The guards nodded and headed for the barracks.

Jean said angrily to Vonce, "you'd kill your own men just so you can live forever?"

"Oh, don't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing," Vonce said back.

Anole put the slate that the formula was written on down. He walked up to Vonce and said, "lord Vonce, if I am not needed here any longer I wish to continue my rounds."

"Not yet Anole," Vonce said putting his hands on Anole's shoulders. "I am greatful that you have written the formula for me, but I am afraid you must do one last thing."

Anole stood and waited for his knew orders. Vonce slipped his knife out of his cloak and stabbed the man right in the back.

Anole gasp in surprise, not in pain. He felt his life slowly slipping away. Vonce said to him, "do not asked so surprised. Your death will go to the immortality of the Hanzain cult."

And with those words Anole died.

The five X-Men remained silent. Andre looked angrily at Vonce. He was now more determined to kill him than ever. Vonce now knew the formula. It was Andre's duty to make sure the secret of his family would not be abused again. 


	15. The New Vonce

Author's notes: Sorry I haven't updated in a little while. My computer was screwed up. 

Note to DoWriter12: I do not answer any questions that have to do with the future parts of the story. I like my readers to be surprised.

*************************************************************

The New Vonce

Rogue knelt down next to Hennin's corps as she clutched her wound. The pain was beginning to go down a little, but she knew it would easily come back.

The puppets waited next to her. They wanted to be sure that she would be fit to fight other Hanzain members. 

Rogue took a few deep breaths and said, "if Hank were hear he'd be able to fix mah wound properly."

She wondered where The Professor was with the other recruits. Would they make it in time to help her?

The pain from Rogue's shoulder hurt so much that she did not notice one of Vonce's guards sneak stealthily up behind her. 

He walked up behind her and slowly put a knife up to her neck. She gasped as she felt the cold metal on her throat.

"Stand up," the cloaked man demanded.

As the pale girl did as she was told he looked down at Hennin lying dead on the floor. He looked at Rogue and said, "lord Vonce will be very displeased. He will have you gutted for this."

The puppets took a few steps forward. The man held his knife tightly and said, "don't move."

The puppets stopped dead in their tracks. The guard began to talk in Rogue's ear. His hot breath made the girl sweat. "What happened here child?"

Rogue answered harshly, "Your buddy here wanted to duel me and as you can see he lost. Trust me if Ah had to do it again Ah'd stab him in a heart beat."

"It doesn't matter," the man said angrily, "your brother has just revealed the formula to lord Vonce." 

"Don't lie to me," said Rogue, "Hennin already tried to make me believe that Andre was dead."

"It is true that he is not dead, but the formula has been revealed," said the guard. 

Rogue had trouble believing him. Hennin had already lied to her and this man could also very well be lying.

However she could not contemplate that now. She had to figure out how to get out of this man's grasp without getting her throat slashed. 

Blade surveyed the situation until something in the far corner of the room caught his eye. He turned and saw one of the last two Totems come out of the shadows, the one possessed by Suetek. 

He began to run at the little monster waving his knife hand in the air. The guard pointed his knife at Rogue's neck ready to stab her. "If only you had listened to me she might have lived," he said. He began to push the knife into Rogue's neck, but before he could break the skin he saw the Totem. 

The man froze in place with the tip of the knife rubbing against Rogue's skin on her neck. She thanked God that she was not dead.

Blade leapt at the Totem with his knife held back ready to slash. As the knife swung forward "Suetek" caught the puppet's arm. He grabbed onto Blade's other arm and held him so his feet were off the ground.

He threw Blade across the room. He hit the wall hard and fell to the ground.

As the rest of the puppets ran at the Totem Decapitron saw his opportunity to save Rogue. He let out a small electric current as the guard had his attention on the Totem.

The electric volt hit the man's hand that was holding the knife. He dropped his weapon and Rogue slipped out of his grip. 

She picked up Andre's cane that the puppets had dropped when they charged at "Suetek". She swung the can at the man and knocked him flat on the ground. Then she proceeded to bash the guard's face in. 

Meanwhile the puppets charged at the Suetek Totem. As they readied their attack the monster jumped into the air and over their heads. He landed about a few feet from Rogue.

He ran at her and slashed her ankle with his razor sharp claws. She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground and dropped Andre's cane. This scratch made her wound count go up to three. Two on her leg and one in her shoulder.

As Decapitron tried to defend the Goth the Totem let out a strange form of orange lighting from his hands and knocked the final puppet of the first Toulon back.

The Totem looked at Rogue as she held her hand on her ankle. Suetek's voice was then heard from the small creature. "So here I have the grand daughter of the first Andre Toulon."

Rogue looked at the small creature. "Are you speaking to me?"

"Of course," said the creature.

Rogue tried to stand up, but the pain shot up her leg and she sat back down. "What the hell do you want," she yelled.

"I want to give you a chance to keep your life," said Suetek. "The power you hold is obviously to great for you to handle. Do you really believe that you, a child, can master the secrets of the ancient times?"

"Ah'll do what Ah can," Rogue said angrily.

"It is foolish for you to try," said Suetek, "I will not be denied the secret that is rightfully mine."

"You just want to abuse the magic for your own benefits," said Rogue, "you don't deserve imortality. Ah won't let you take mah brother's secret."

"Nor will you be able to stop me from taking it back," said Suetek.

He fired the orange light from his fingers at Rogue. Pain began to shoot through out her entire body. She began to scream in agony.

The puppets began to run at the Totem, but the Suetek Totem held one of his hands out towards them and knocked them down with the orange lightning.

He continued his assault on Rogue. As the pain grew greater inside of her she began to wish that she would just wake up. She wished this whole thing was just a bad dream and that she would wake up in her own bed at the Xavier Institute. Then she would just go down stairs and all the X-Men would have a good laugh about it. But it was not a dream, it was really happening.

As the thought of death being so near began to pass through Rogue's mind the pain suddenly stopped. She looked up and saw Blade on the Suetek Totem's back. 

He had leapt onto the creature when he saw what was happening to Rogue. The puppet jammed his hook into the creature's back. 

The Suetek Totem began to thrash around, trying to knock Blade off. The puppet held on as best he could. He waved back and forth like a rag doll.

Finally the Suetek Totem threw Blade off. The puppet landed near a door on the side of the room. As he stood up the door slowly opened. 

Blade looked at the opened door. The Totem tackled Blade. They both rolled through the doorway and the door was closed quickly.

Rogue stood up ignoring the pain in her leg. She watched as the puppet called Pinhead walked up and began banging his fists against the door.

She ran over to assist Pinhead. She grabbed the knob and pulled on the door, but it would not budge. 

Rogue yanked on the door as hard as she could. She did not care how much her shoulder hurt now; she had to help Blade. 

She looked at the other puppets who were still a little shaken up by Suetek's attack. "Don't just stand there help me. The door's jammed."

The puppets ran to her side and did what they could top help her. Torch heated up the lower part of the door with his flame-thrower, Tunneler began to drill through the door, and the other puppets did what they could.

Meanwhile on the other side of the door Blade struggled with the Suetek Totem that was now on top of him. The special Totem had both of the puppet's arms. They struggled to gain dominance over the other.

Blade kicked the special Totem in the stomach and knocked it off of him. He stood up and faced the little monster. 

He waved his knife hand in the air and pointed it at "Suetek" as if telling him to bring on the fight.

The special Totem simply screeched and pointed to the door that they had just rolled through. 

Standing near it was the last Totem possessed by one of Suetek's watchers. Blade stuck out the little pin pupils in his black eyes. He was now out numbered.

He looked from Totem to Totem trying to figure out which one would attack first. While doing this he also scanned for a way out. The only escape he could find was a hole in the wall.

He took his attention off the Totems and ran for the door. The two creatures leapt into the air and landed right in front of Blade. He would have to fight his way out. 

The special Totem looked Blade dead in the eye. The voice of Suetek was then heard, "that girl on the other side of the door can not even protect you. Why do you bother fighting for her?"

Blade of course could not answer, but if he could he would have supported Rogue.

The Totem next to "Suetek" charged at Blade. The puppet raise his knife hand and blocked the creature's claws. 

Blade then stuck his hook into the Totem's hand and spun it around so it's back was facing him. 

Blade then put his knife up to the Totem's neck. The special Totem looked at this.

Blade then pointed to the hole behind the creature. The Suetek Totem immediately moved out of the way of the hole.

Blade began to walk to his exit facing "Suetek" the entire time. As soon as he was in front of the hole he pushed the Totem at "Suetek" knocking both of them down.

Blade went through the hole which led him back to another hallway. He ran down it searching for a way to get back to the others.

All the while Rogue and the other puppets were still trying to get into the room. Finally after fighting with the door for so long they got it open.

Rogue ran into the room ready to do what ever she had to in order to help Blade. When she entered the room she saw the two Totems lying on the floor, but Blade was no where to be seen. 

The Goth looked around the room and soon the hole in the wall entered her sight. She immeadietly knew what happened. :He got away," she said happily. 

The two Totems stood back up and saw Rogue and the other puppets in the room. They knew they were out numbered so they exited in the same hole Blade did.

Rogue shook her head and left the room. The puppets followed close behind her. 

She turned to her small companions and could see that they were concerned about their friend. 

Rogue said to them, "look Ah know we have to find Blade, but we can't do that right now. We gotta save Andre and the others first. Blade can take care of himself. Ah know Ah haven't known him for very long, but Ah do know that."

The puppets knew Rogue was right, but they were still concerned. "Look with any luck we'll run into him before we get to where Vonce has Andre and mah friends."

Rogue picked up Andre's cane and headed for another door. She held it open for the puppets as they walked into another hallway. 

Rogue stepped out with the puppets and began to walk down the long corridor. She could help but be worried for Blade herself. She hoped that he would be all right.

*************************************************************

Blade ran through the halls trying to find his way back to his comrades. He had no idea where he was in the Hanzain temple. With out Rogue leading the way he was lost.

The only plan he had right now was to just run through the halls and hope that he will soon run into her. 

His feet made a flapping sound as it echoed through the air. As the puppet turned a corner he ran into two of Vonce's guards walking down the corridor. They had their backs to Blade so they did not see him, but they heard him. He hid behind the corner as they turned around.

"Did you hear that," asked one guard. 

The other just shook his head and they continued down the hall.

Blade came out from behind the corner slowly and began to follow the guards. He noticed one of them was carrying some sort of container with him. Blade listened to the men talk as he followed them.

"It's hard to believe that the only way to get everlasting life is to kill others," said one guard.

"Yes, but this will be the only time we kill our own men. After tonight we will go out and seek others for the formula and use their brains."

Blade knew what was in the container right away. Vonce must have told them that they needed the digeneral lobes for the formula. 

The guards continued down the hall. One guard asked, "did lord Vonce tell you anything else about the formula?"

"No," the guards said, "he only told me that we needed the curtain part of the brain."

They continued to talk as they walked down the hall. Blade made sure that every step he took was quieter than the one before it. No one else in the world could be quieter.

The two guards eventually stopped at a large door. The one that was not holding the container knocked on it. The doors opened wide and they entered.

As the doors closed Blade ran quickly for them. He just managed to pass through them before they closed on him.

The puppet was now in a huge room. All the Hanzain cult members were there. They stood in a large circle around Vonce and the young Puppet Master. 

There was a table next to Vonce and on it stood a small cauldron and the creature he had shown the captured X-Men before. The one he was going to transfer himself into. 

Blade watched as the two guards that he was following made their way to the center of the circle. They handed Vonce the container of the digeneral lobes. 

Vonce took the container and said, "very good. I have already added on lobe to the formula. With these eight lobes added to the concoction it will make more than enough to transfer me into the creature."

The eight digeneral lobes were added to the potion and Vonce began to stir them in. They seemed to dissolve in the substance. 

Blade looked around the large chamber and saw the five captured X-Men. They were chained to separate polls around the outside of the circle. 

Blade wanted to free them from their shackles, but he knew that if he were caught they would all be killed. 

He ran over to the door that he had entered through. He knew he could not reach or turn the knob so he did the only thing he could thing of. He began to tap S.O.S on the door. Hopefully Rogue and the others would hear him, that is if they ever get in hearing distance of his distress signal. 

*************************************************************

Rogue walked ahead of the puppets with Andre's cane in her hand ready to strike who ever may attack her.

She was curious because of the silence. She figured that after killing Hennin Vonce would have this place crawling with his men looking for her. 

As they ran Six-shooter stopped near a door. Rogue turned to him and said, "Six-shooter we gotta move come on." But the cowboy puppet did not move. He put his head up to the door.

Rogue walked over to him and reached to pick him up, but stopped when she heard a tapping sound. Rogue realized at once that it was mores code. 

She knew a little mores code, but not much of it. She listened to the tapping and said what she heard quietly to herself. "S O S."

She motioned for the other puppets to come to her. Her ungloved hand reached for the knob and turned it. When the door was open they all saw Blade standing on the other side.

Rogue was about to yell out the puppet's name in joy and relief, but then she saw all of Vonce's men in the room. 

She knelt down to Blade and whispered, "what's going on in here?"

She rolled her eyes remembering that Blade could not talk. Then Blade pointed to the five captured X-Men around the circle of cloaked figures.

Rogue's eyes filled up with some hope. She looked over the whole situation. Andre was in the middle of the large circle with Vonce and a strange creature on a table, and the X-Men were outside waiting to be freed.

But then Rogue saw Vonce filling up a small silver cup with a green liquid. She looked back at Blade. "Is that the formula," she asked. Blade nodded.

The hope in Rogues eyes vanished. Vonce now knew the formula and was about to use it. 

"Well, we can't stop him from using it now," she said to the puppets, "but we can at least try to kill him."

All the puppets nodded. Rogue then said, "we can't worry about Vonce now, lets try to save the X-Men first."

She reached into her boot and pulled out the syringes that held the antidote that would give her friends their powers back. She looked down at the puppets and said, "Blade you and Six-shooter are coming with me. The rest of you stay here. If it looks like we're in trouble you swing in and help us alright." The puppets nodded.

Rogue, Six-shooter, and Blade walked slowly to the circle. They headed for the nearest imprisoned X-Men, Kitty.

Rogue hide behind her poll and then whispered to her. "Kitty, are you all right?"

Kitty jumped at the sound of Rogues voice and looked behind her. Rogue poked her head out from behind the poll. "Rogue you're all right," Kitty said joyfully.

Rogue hushed her. One of Vonce's men turned to Kitty. Rogue hid back behind the poll before she was seen.

The man turned back to the inside of the circle. Rogue came out from behind the poll. Kitty whispered, "we were beginning to think you'd never find us.

"Have a little faith in me," said Rogue as she held up one of the syringes. 

"That's the stuff that gives us our powers back," Kitty exclaimed.

"How did you know that," Rogue asked

Kitty told her about how they used the substance when they were first brought here. She also mentioned that it would only work if the needle were stuck where the eyelids connect near the nose.

Rogue shuddered at that thought and asked, "are you sure about that?"

Kitty only nodded. Rogue shrugged and pointed the needle between Kitty's eye and nose. Kitty clenched her teeth before Rogue stuck the needle in. 

The needle hurt very much, but Kitty did not scream. She just closed her eyes tightly and waited for the pain to go away. 

Rogue administered half of the substance in the syringe into Kitty and then pulled the needle out. 

Kitty waited a little while as the antidote began to flow through her. She then concentrated on her powers and phased right through her shackles. 

She gave a sigh of joy and clasped her arms around Rogue. The Goth winced a little as Kitty squeezed the wound on Rogue's shoulder.

Kitty took her arms off of Rogue and noticed he injuries. "Oh my God, what happened," she whispered."

Rogue hushed her and then heard Vonce begin to speak. "Men," he yelled, "to day is a glorious day for the people of Hanzain. Today we have found immortality."

All of Vonce's men cheered. Rogue and Kitty looked to the middle of the circle. Vonce took his hood off revealing his hideous face. "Today I will place myself into this creature that had been created long ago," he said, "and we will set forth on the world until all humans cower in fear when we pass."

Andre struggled with the ropes around his, but he could not loosen them. This was it; Vonce was using the formula.

Rogue and Kitty watched from outside the circle as Vonce took his knife out of his cloak. He then picked up a funnel and placed it in the mouth of the creature. Then he pored the formula into a cup, nut only the amount that was needed. 

He smiled and said, "we appear to have to much of the elixir. There is enough for one of you to gain immortality after the ceremony."

He walked up to the creature with the cup and knife in hand. Before he continued he said, "if this does not work, then kill the Puppet Master."

Vonce held out his hands to his side. He paused for a while and then said the words that Andre told him to chant. "Sendoo eelee tru. Sondo sondo hy."

Rogue watched curious to what the man was doing. 'How is he gonna transfer himself into that body," she wondered. She would have maybe tried to stop Vonce from doing this, but she wanted to see at least one way the formula worked.

Vonce drank the potion from the cup. As he swallowed the substance he nervously held his neck over the funnel.

What he did next made Rogue sick to her stomach. Vonce took the knife and slowly slit his own throat over the funnel. The blood from his neck slowly pored into the funnel and down the creature's gullet.

Vonce began to choke and fell to the floor motionless. His men waited around him for anything to happen.

The creature on the table suddenly moved. It sat up right and looked at the men around him. It looked at his hands and a look of pure glee formed on his face.

The creatures spoke, but with Vonce's voice, "it worked. I am now the creature."

Vonce's men began to cheer around him. Vonce was now the creature.

Rogue and Kitty stood stunned outside of the circle. Vonce yelled out as if shouting to the world, "look how easy it is! Only a sheer moment of pain and then you live forever!"

Rogue shook off her disbelief and turned to Kitty. "Kitty I want you to take this syringe and try to free Kurt and Jean."

Kitty nodded and took the syringe. As Kitty head to where Kurt was chained Rogue checked to see if Blade and Six-shooter were still with her. They were not.

Rogue looked around for them. She saw them already making there way to where Logan was chained. 

She made her way quietly to them. They moved to the back of the pole where Logan was chained.

Logan had his attention on the ceremony. Vonce was making some big speech about covering the world in shadow and Logan was so angry with this twisted man that he blocked out everything around him.

He heard a voice whisper to him. "Logan it's me."

Logan cocked his head at the sound. He knew the voice right away. "Rogue," he said quietly.

Rogue came out from behind the pole. Logan could not help, but smile. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it," he said.

"Well you know me, Ah'm full of surprises," Rogue said.

Rogue picked Blade up and held him near Logan's shackles. He began to pick the lock with his knife.

Six-shooter stood by Rogue's feet with his guns aimed at the group of Hanzain members. If any of them were to turn around he wanted to take them out.

As Blade picked the lock Logan noticed Rogue's wounds. "I would have been happier if you were in one peace," he said.

"So would Ah," Rogue said in return.

Blade had finished picking the lock on both shackles. Rogue put him back down next to Six-shooter.

Rogue held up the syringe and was about to inject the antidote into Logan. However he knew what it was right away. He grabbed the syringe from Rogue and injected the substance into himself.

As he did this Rogue looked across the circle. Kitty had freed Kurt and had given him the antidote. 

Logan handed the empty syringe to Rogue. "Do you have any more of that stuff for the others," he asked.

Rogue nodded as she held up the third syringe full of the antidote. They quickly made their way to where Scott was chained.

Inside the circle Vonce had finished his speech. Andre just looked at him with hate filed eyes.

Vonce turned to him. "I think we should make another batch, what do you think young Puppet Master," the now monster Vonce asked Andre.

Andre spit at him and said, "go to hell."

"Oh I do not have to worry about that," said Vonce, "but you may. The next batch will have your brain in it."

Andre was about to speak again, but something outside of the circle caught his eye. He saw Rogue freeing Scott from his chains, and Logan was with her. 

He did not change his expression on his face however. He did not want Vonce to know what was going on. 

Sadly Vonce saw Andre's eyes twitch when he notice Rogue. He turned around and saw the Goth releasing his prisoners. "You," he said as Rogue saw him looking at her.

All of Vonce's men turned to the three mutants. "Oh crap," was all that came out of Rogue's mouth.

Vonce yelled out, "KILL THEM ALL!"

Vonce's men were about to attack the three mutants. Rogue held up her ungloved hands and Logan let the claws out of his fists, but Scott was defenseless. Rogue did not have time to give him the antidote. 

As the men walked forward they heard two female voices from the opposite end of the chamber.

They all turned and saw Kitty and Jean standing near the door with the other puppets.

Jean flew up into the air and let loose a blast of her telekinetic power. A few of members of Hanzain went flying through the air. 

Vonce picked up his knife and held it up to Andre's throat. "Surrender or the Puppet Master dies," he yelled.

All the mutants and puppets remained still. Vonce gave an evil smile.

He then heard a strange noise from behind him and smelled sulfur. Kurt had teleported behind him. 

He threw the creature down and grabbed hold of Andre. They both *bamfed* out of the circle.

Vonce looked up at the empty chair with the ropes on the floor. He looked over to Rogue angrily.

Kurt and Andre appeared next to Rogue, Logan, and Scott they all grabbed hold of them and *bamfed* over to Kitty and Jean. 

All the mutants and puppets exited the room and closed the door.

Vonce ran through all his men to get to the door. He banged against it causing it to fly open.

Jean saw the door swing open. She used her mutant powers to close the door. Vonce began to ram himself against the door trying to get it open.

"I can't hold it for long," Jean said. 

Andre thought quickly. "Torch blast the door with fire," he commanded.

Torch nodded and let loose a large burst of flame. The fire enveloped the entire door. 

Inside the chamber Vonce felt a burning sensation on his arm. The fire had burned through the cracks in the door and set the inner part on fire. 

Vonce backed away from the wild flames. He did not mind the burns. He took a running start and broke the door down.

When the door was open he could see that the entire hall in front of it was engulfed if flame all the way to the wall on the other side. 

Vonce knew that if any of his men tried to run through it then they would burn to death before making it out. He yelled angrily, "damn you Puppet Master."

He now had no choice, but to wait for the flames to burn out.

*************************************************************

Kitty exited the temple of Hanzain followed by the other X-Men, the puppets and Andre, who now had his cane in hand.

She looked up at the sky. It was still dark out. She said joyfully, "I never thought I'd be so happy to see the night sky.

Rogue stopped to catch her breath and then said, "is everyone here."

Andre looked about and said, "I think so."

Rogue nodded happily and looked over Andre's body. He had many cuts and bruises on his face.

"Oh mah God, Andre what happened," she asked in alarm.

Andre did not really want to answer her. "Does somebody else want to tell her," he asked the other X-Men.

Logan nodded and stepped over to Rogue. "Vonce tried to beat the formula out of him," he said, "Andre took one hell of a bashing."

Rogue looked sympathetically at her brother.

Kurt looked around the clearing. "Where's the X-Jet? Shouldn't the Professor be here," he asked.

"Ah don't know," said Rogue. "He left to get some of the younger students to help us out. Ah thought he'd be back by now."

"Well let's not wait for him here," said Scott, "lets just go into town and try to contact him."

"I'm with you," said Jean, "let's just get out of here."

Every one seemed to agree with that plan. They all began to head out of the clearing.

As Andre walked he heard the voice of his grandfather in his head. "You can not leave yet grandson. Vonce still knows the formula, and Suetek is still abroad."

Andre stopped. His puppets stopped with him. They heard the voice of the old Puppet Master as well.

Rogue turned to them. "Come on guys, we can't stay here," she called to them.

Andre shook his head and said, "we can't leave."

All the X-Men heard this. Logan walked up to the boy and asked, "what do you mean we can't leave yet. I no time at all Vonce is gonna have these woods crawling with his men."

"Logan you don't understand," said Andre, "Vonce was the magic. I can't leave here until I kill him."

"What," Rogue asked in surprise. "You can't kill Vonce, didn't you see what he did. He transferred himself into that creature thing."

"I don't care," said Andre, "I have to kill him."

"But, you won't stand a chance against him now," said Kitty.

"Look, lets at least wait for the Professor to get here with the others then we can discuss this."

"I can't wait," said Andre, "what is there to discuss anyway? Vonce has the magic and now he has to die before he can march his army all over the Earth."

He turned back towards the temple and began to walk back with the Puppets following.

"This is crazy Andre," said Kurt, "Vonce and his men out number you. Even If we help the odds are still against us."

Andre did not answer, he just continued to walk.

Rogue ran over to him and said, "wait Andre Ah'm coming to."

"Rogue please" said Andre, but Rogue interrupted him. 

"Don't argue with me on this one Andre," said Rogue, "I just found out that Ah had a brother not even a day ago and Ah don't want to loose you now. Ah'm gonna help you."

Andre did not argue. He simply nodded to her and they began to head back into the temple.

As they descended the staircase the darkness of the entranceway enveloped them again. Torch let out a little of his flame so they would have some light.

Andre so the door that they had entered already. As he reached for the knob a muscular hand grabbed his shoulder.

Both he and Rogue turned around in shock, and standing behind them were the five other X-Men. 

Logan said to them, "we're not abandoning you now."

Rogue smiled in joy now knowing that her friends would help them, but Andre did not smile. He only nodded to them and opened the door.

In his mind there was no reason to smile. They were heading back to fight Andre and his men. There was a big chance that they might be heading to their death.


	16. The Battle

Author's Notes: Once again thanks to all who reviewed. This is the chapter that you have all been waiting for. A really big battle. I am sorry it took me a very, very,very, long time to update this story, but I had a a lagr amount of writter's block and I had many thigns going on in school.

*************************************************************

The Battle

Vonce now stood in his chamber. It took quite some time for the fire in front of the door to finally burn out. When it finally did he figured the Puppet Master and the mutants were long gone.

After debating for some time whether he should go after them one of his men entered his chamber. He looked at the cloaked figure. "I hope you have brought good news."

"I am afraid not," said the man. "Forgive me sir, but Hennin's body was found not to far from the ceremonial chamber. He had been stabbed in the heart. He's dead sir."

Vonce growled in anger. The muscles on his new body tensed up. He turned to the man and grabbed him. In a fit of rage he tore him apart. 

He gave a low growl as he stood covered in blood. "Do not worry Hennin," he said to himself, "I will avenge you. I will bring you back and I will use the brains of the mutants and the Puppet Master to do it."

Vonce whipped the blood off his now clawed hands and called for his guards. The two cloaked men entered the chamber and saw the pieces of their former comrade on the floor.

Vonce looked at them and said, "get my men together. We are going after those mutants."

*************************************************************

Rogue lead the way through the temple with Andre at her side. She was the only one who knew her way around this place. The five other mutants and the puppets followed closely behind.

"So do we have a plan," asked Scott as the puppets ran further ahead to get closer to their master.

"Well," said Andre, "we're definitely gonna get into a huge brawl with the other Hanzain Cult members. I say we try to focus on Vonce, and if we kill him just get the hell out of here."

"But what about Suetek and the last Totem," asked Rogue, "they're still on the loose."

"We'll worry about that later," was Andre's only answer.

Rogue began to feel sick to her stomach. She had been in battles before, but never with this many enemies. 

She could not help, but fear what would happen if they failed. If they did then Vonce would transfer all of his men's souls into similar creatures as the one he was now. 

She looked at Andre. His eyes were full of uncertainty. 

"Do you think we stand much of a chance," Rogue asked her brother.

Andre did not want to lower the confidence of the X-Men, but he could not lie. "Our chances are very slim. We may die trying to kill Vonce."

Rogue looked back at the five X-men. All of them except for Logan had fear in their eyes. Rogue began to think that it was a stupid idea to fight along side Andre if they were just going to loose.

But then she looked over to Andre and the puppets. They may have seemed uncertain about the upcoming battle, but they did not seem worried at all. 

They looked determined to beat Vonce even though their chances were not good. 

Rogue could not help, but admire them. The confidence rose up a little inside her as they walked down the corridors of the temple.

It was at that time Andre stopped. "Are you guys ready," he asked without turning to the other X-Men. 

Logan answered for them. "Yep, lets start this."

Andre took a deep breath. He tightened his grip on his cane and looked down the hall. One more deep breath and he was ready.

"VONCE!!!," he yelled out very loudly, "I'M HERE!!! I WANT TO FINISH THIS NOW!!!"

Rogue and the other X-Men looked at Andre in shock. They thought they were at least going to try and make a surprise attack, not just walk in and announce they were still here. 

"Are you out of you mind," Rogue asked. "Now they all know we're here."

"They would know anyway," said Andre. 

The puppets were becoming aggressive. They wanted to kill every member of the Hanzain cult and make them pay for all the trouble they caused their master.

A few moments of pure silence went by. They may have only been mere seconds, but to Rogue they seemed like an eternity. 

A few more moments went by and nothing happened. Andre yelled out again, "I'M HERE VONCE!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? COME AND GET ME!!!"

"I intend to," came the voice of Vonce from the darkness in the hallway ahead of them.

Vonce stepped out of the shadows followed by all his men. Rogue watched nervously as all the cloaked men surrounded them. The very first thought in her head was, 'we're dead.'

The Hanzain members were completely encircled around them. 

Andre looked directly at Vonce and Vonce looked at him. Nobody moved as they stared at each other.

Vonce then spoke. "Puppet Master, why are you still here? You knew that in only a moment's time I would have my men hunting you down. So why have you not left this temple?

"I figured you'd already know that," said Andre. "You know my grandfather's secret. I can't allow you to live."

Vonce laughed and said, "Toulon, surly you don't think you can escape from here?"

"Maybe we wont," said Andre, "and I don't care if I don't survive, just as long as you are dead."

Vonce smiled and said, "it seems you do not care about the lives of your friends, and they are still willing to help you?"

Andre said, "I do care about their lives. I only said I don't care if **I** don't survive."

Vonce paused and looked to Rogue. "And you," he said, "aren't you afraid of what is to come. Aren't you afraid to die."

Rogue stood silent for a while. She had to tell Vonce something, but she still did not want to seem weak to him. 

She finally spoke after a long pause. "Ah would tell you that Ah'm not afraid, but that's not true. Ah'm terrified of what's gonna happen. But still even if Ah am afraid and even though our chances of beating you are slim, we still plan to kill you."

"Very well then," said Vonce, and with a simple twitch of his eye all his men had their swords in hand. He then raised his arm and swung it down signaling his men to attack. 

It was then that the first wave of his men, which was about twenty of them, went running towards the mutants and the puppets. Vonce figured that he would not need all his men to defeat this small group of mutants.

All the X-Men readied themselves for the battle. Rogue held up her still ungloved hands ready to attack. She thought to herself, 'Ah'm taking the sword of the first guy who's killed.'

Vonce watched this and smiled as he though, 'this will be the easiest victory for the Hanzain Cult.'

But as soon as he thought that another voice was heard in his head saying, "you will not defeat my students that easily."

As soon as those words entered his mind a flash of fire came out of nowhere burning five of the men in the first wave.

The X-Men stood in total shock at what had happened. The cult members in the first wave of the attack stood bewildered by what happened. 

Andre looked down to Torch, but he did not start the fire.

Then all the mutants and puppets turned flying in the air Amara in her fire form. Below her sat Professor Xavier in his wheel chair and with him was Storm, Beast, and the other recruits. They had finally arrived to help them.

Rogue smiled in joy at this sight. She never thought she would ever be so happy to see all the younger recruits ever in her life.

Vonce saw all the recruits in front of him and gave a roar of anger before yelling, "all men attack full force!"

And so the battle had begun. All the men charged towards the X-Men and the puppets.

Andre turned around just in time to see one clocked man running towards him with his sword in hand. The young puppet master pointed his cane at the man as the dark figure ran into it impaling himself. 

Andre then took the man's sword and began to slash Hanzain members left and right.

Rogue stood near Andre. She was soon surrounded by three cloaked men. She held her hands up ready to suck the life out of who ever attacked first. 

One of the men ran at her. The puppet Blade saw this and quickly ran at the man and cut his ankle causing him to fall down. 

Meanwhile the other two men attacked Rogue. She managed to dodge every one of their attacks. She looked down to the man that had fallen and saw Blade leap on his chest. The puppet slit the man's throat and then went on to help other X-Men who needed it. 

Rogue looked back to her two adversaries as they came in for another attack. She dodged their blades and grabbed the sword of the dead man. 

She spun around cut the stomach of one of her opponents. The figure fell dead to the floor. The other man gave up on Rogue and went to fight any of the other X-Men.

Jean stood with Iceman and Six-shooter in a far corner of the battlefield. Jean was throwing Hanzain Cult members around with her mind as Iceman froze others where they fought.

Six-shooter merle fired one of his six guns at any enemy that came at the two.

Scott stood near Logan who was doing the most damage. He had no weapon and since his eye beams were still inactive he was defenseless.

Scott then heard Rogue's voice yelling to him. He turned around and saw Rogue holding up a syringe full of the antidote that would give him his powers back. 

Rogue threw the syringe to him. Storm then flew in above Scott and gave him his visor. 

Scott injected the antidote into himself and put on his visor. He then let out a huge beam from his eyes taking out at least fifteen Hanzain cult members.

The battle raged on. Storm and Amara flew above the battlefield letting loose fire and lightning at any unsuspecting Hanzain cult member.

Kitty stood back watching the battle with Professor Xavier. She did not want to kill anybody even if they deserved to die.

The puppets, excluding Six-shooter, were doing what they could to help the X-Men and their master. They dodged bodies that nearly fell on them and whenever they saw that one of the X-Men was having trouble they would go and help them. 

Blade watched as Torch fried a Hanzain member. He then began to run through the feet and legs of the cloaked men cutting ankles and calves as he did. 

He then ran into Pinhead who was beating the eyeballs out of a Hanzain man. When the man was dead Pinhead ran over to Blade.

The small headed puppet pulled another Hanzain man by the ankles causing him to fall down. Blade then ran to the man's head and stabbed him in the jugular vein. 

Blade and Pinhead looked at each other with satisfaction, but then something caught Blades eye.

He turned to the man that Pinhead had just killed and saw Suetek's special Totem sucking the life energy out of the dead man. Ever since the battle began the two remaining Totems had been using it to their advantage. Almost every time a person died they would run to the corps and take the life energy. The Suetek Totem was almost at full strength.

As the special Totem sucked the energy he saw Blade and Pinhead looking at him. The two puppets ran at the little monster, but the creature ran away.

Blade and Pinhead followed the Totem into the darkness of the Hanzain temple leading them away from the battle.

Decapitron saw them leave, but he did not stop them. He knew exactly why they were leaving. 

Meanwhile Vonce watched the battle. It seemed that even though his men were fighting with al their skill they were still loosing. He figured it was now time for him to enter the battle and reveal the true strength of the creature he had become. 

He watched as Storm flew above his head. He leapt into the air. He jumped so high it was as if he himself was flying. He snatched Storm by the waist and threw her down to the hard stone floor. When she hit the ground all the wind was knocked out of her. 

As Vonce fell through the air he managed to direct himself so he landed right on top of Storm. 

Kurt who was battling not to far away saw Vonce on top of Storm. He quickly teleported over to her aid. As he appeared in front of Vonce he kicked him with both of his three toed feet.

Vonce did not seem to be affected by the blow. He grabbed Kurt by his tail and pulled him off his feet. He then stomped on Kurt's stomach five times. 

Kurt gasped for air after he was given that hard blow. 

Vonce was ready to go in for another attack, but then he heard a voice behind him say, "leave him alone Vonce."

Vonce turned around and saw Andre, balancing on his cane and pointing his sword at Vonce. "It's me you want," the boy said.

"Very well," said Vonce. He picked up a sword that lied next to one of his dead comrades. He looked at Andre with an evil smile and said, "one on one."

Then Rogue came running next to Andre with a sword in her hand and she said, "two on one."

This did not seem to worry Vonce. He merely picked up a second sword and began to circle the two Toulon children. 

Kurt and Ororo stood up and quickly backed away from the duel.

As Andre and Rogue circled Vonce Andre said to Rogue, "on three we take him quick and easily"

But Rogue interrupted her brother and said as she ran at Vonce, "Ah ain't waiting till three."

She ran at Vonce with rage in her eyes. She wanted him to pay for every thing he did. 

Vonce was quick I his defense. As Rogue swung her sword at him he blocked it and hit the Goth in the chest with the handle of his sword.

Rogue knelt down in pain as Vonce went in for an attack. Andre quickly ran in front of his sister and blocked Vonce's attack with both his cane and sword. 

He tried to push Vonce away, but the now monster Vonce only moved back a few inches. 

Rogue recovered from her blow and now both her and Andre attacked together. They went at the creature with a combination of swings and thrusts.

Vonce blocked every one of them with ease. He then smiled at the two and said; "now it's my turn."

He quickly slid between the two mutants and was now at their backs. As they turned around Vonce swung his sword cutting both of their right arms.

This caused Andre to drop his cane. Vonce then picked the boy up and threw him across the room. Andre slammed against the wall and fell to the floor, leaving Rogue alone to deal with Vonce.

Vonce went at Rogue again swinging his sword around and attacking Rogue hard.

Rogue barley managed to block every attack. 

Vonce looked at her and said, "you're doing well. But I am much stronger in this body than you will ever be."

Rogue gave him an angry look and said, "well the Ah'll just have to even the odds."

She then quickly grabbed Vonce with her ungloved hand, ready to take his strength and skills with a sword, but nothing happened. 

Vonce grabbed her arm and threw her. She flew through the air and landed hard on the ground sliding few feet before she stopped.

'Why didn't mah powers work' she thought. Then she remembered that her powers did not work on the Totems either. The magic of the formula must make it so she could not absorb the life force f anybody in a new body.

Vonce ran toward her. Rogue lifted up her sword ready to defend. 

Vonce swung his sword so hard that it caused Rogue to loose her grip on hers. The blade flew out of her hands and landed out of her reach.

Vonce held his sword up to her neck and said, "after I kill you I will destroy your brother and the Toulon family will be no more."

Rogue closed her eyes hoping that the pain would go by quickly, but then she heard Vonce scream. Not in pain, but in surprise.

The Goth opened her eyes and saw Andre holding onto Vonce's back for dear life as the monster thrashed around.

Andre had managed to crawl over to his cane. He used his cane to impale Vonce's arm.

He twisted the cane around in Vonce's arm as he was thrashed around. 

Andre then fell off of Vonce, leaving his cane where it was.

Vonce dropped one of his swords as his arm went limp. He quickly left the battlefield with Andre's can still in his arm.

Rogue stood up helping her brother stand in the process. As Andre was helped to his feet he grabbed a sword that lay near by.

Andre said, "we gotta get him before he gets away."

"But we can't just leave the X-Men here to fight for themselves," Rogue objected.

They then heard Logan's voice say, "it's ok, go get that bastard before he gets to far."

They looked over to Logan as he took his claws out of a Hanzain member. "We got everything under control here."

Andre and Rogue nodded. They ran after Vonce prepared to kill him. 

Andre used his sword for support as he ran with his sister.

Meanwhile the X-Men continued to fight. That number of the Hanzain cult was growing smaller, their men decreased. The X-men fought well as the screams of the Hanzain members echoed through the temple. The Hanzain cult had lost the battle with the X-Men, but the battle for the formula was not over. 


End file.
